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Article snippet: Gina Haspel had no major stumbles Wednesday in her highly anticipated testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee, a performance that earned some muted criticism from Democrats but overall appeared to bolster her chances of being confirmed as the CIA’s next director. Haspel, a career CIA officer who spent over three decades undercover, wavered little under questioning from Sens. MORE (D-Calif.) and other Democrats about her role in the agency’s controversial post-9/11 interrogation and detention program. She fiercely defended the agency’s counterterror chops and her own “moral compass,” as Democrats repeatedly pressed her on the morality of torture — and criticized her for providing “legalistic” answers. “I believe that CIA did extraordinary work to prevent another attack on this country given the legal tools that we were authorized to use,” Haspel said. “What I believe sitting here today is that I support the higher moral standard we have decided to hold ourselves to.” Under current law, U.S. government interrogators are limited to techniques authorized in the Army Field Manual. Haspel vowed that the CIA would not return to the use of so-called enhanced interrogation techniques under her leadership, arguing that the agency lacks the expertise to conduct interrogations and that she does not believe “torture works,” as MORE has previously stated. But, she said, “We got valuable information from debriefing of al Qaeda detainees and I don't think it's knowable w... Link to the full article to read more