“Over the course of your career with the intelligence community, you have served in positions of responsibility that have intersected with the CIA’s program of so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques,” the Arizona Republican, who leads the Senate Armed Services Committee, wrote in a letter to Haspel. “We now know that these techniques not only failed to deliver actionable intelligence, but actually produced false and misleading information. Most importantly, the use of torture compromised our values, stained our national honor, and threatened our historical reputation.” 

The letter underscores the challenge Haspel will have in receiving Senate confirmation for the top position at the CIA. Both Democrats and Republicans have raised concerns over her involvement at a “black site” prison in Thailand and her role in the “enhanced interrogation” of terrorism suspects, which McCain and others have labeled as torture. 

“These techniques included the practice of waterboarding, forced nudity and humiliation, facial and abdominal slapping, dietary manipulation, stress positions, cramped confinement, striking, and more than 48 hours of sleep deprivation,” McCain wrote to Haspel. 

In the letter, McCain requested information on her involvement with the program and whether she was directly involved or oversaw any “enhanced interrogation techniques,” like waterboarding. He also pressed Haspel on whether such techniques were justified and whether the methods resulted in any meaningful intelligence. 

Under dispute is Haspel’s direct role in the interrogation program and whether she was involved in the destruction of tapes containing evidence of the torture. The issue is sure to be a main focus of her confirmation hearings and could impede her eventual confirmation in the Senate.