Article snippet: The Senate on Thursday confirmed Gina Haspel to lead the CIA despite engrained opposition over her involvement in the George W. Bush-era interrogation program. Senators voted 54-45 to confirm Haspel, making her the first female director of the spy agency. GOP Sens. MORE (Ariz.), who was captured and tortured during the Vietnam War, also opposes her nomination but is in Arizona undergoing treatment for brain cancer. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.) supported the nominee. Haspel is a veteran CIA official who has been with the agency for more than 30 years and by all accounts is well-liked by her colleagues. But her nomination received roughly half the support from Democrats that now-Secretary of State MORE’s first CIA chief. Her nomination was immersed almost immediately by controversy because of her involvement in the agency’s post-Sept. 11 use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” — now widely viewed as torture. In particular, senators homed in on her time spent running a CIA black site and role in the destruction of videotapes documenting the interrogation of an al Qaeda suspect. The CIA and the White House launched an all-out charm offensive in order to build support for Haspel's nomination, playing up politically favorable aspects of her largely secret career, including her work on Russia. They also touted her support among former intelligence community officials, including MORE, former President Obama’s director of national intelligence. Haspel also worked to dis... Link to the full article to read more