Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden blasted the Trump administration on Tuesday for the selection of Gina Haspel to lead the CIA over Haspel’s former management of a “black site” prison.
In a series of tweets, the whistleblower, who fled the country after exposing classified information in 2013 about U.S. surveillance programs, attacked Haspel for her role in the 2002 torture of detainees at a secret CIA prison in Thailand.
“Interesting: The new CIA Director Haspel, who ‘tortured some folks,’ probably can’t travel to the EU to meet other spy chiefs without facing arrest due to an @ECCHRBerlin complaint to Germany’s federal prosecutor,” wrote Snowden, referring to a complaint filed by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights.
President Trump said Tuesday that Haspel would replace CIA Director Mike Pompeo, who is set to take over for Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, whom Trump fired Tuesday.
“Mike Pompeo, Director of the CIA, will become our new Secretary of State,” Trump tweeted Tuesday morning.
“He will do a fantastic job! Thank you to Rex Tillerson for his service! Gina Haspel will become the new Director of the CIA, and the first woman so chosen. Congratulations to all!”