CVT Opposes Haspel Nomination

Because of Gina Haspel’s involvement in the CIA torture program, CVT strongly opposed her nomination to CIA director. This was only the second time in CVT’s more than 30-year history that the organization opposed a presidential nominee.

CVT STATEMENTS, LETTERS & PUBLICATIONS

Press Release: A Torturer is Voted In
May 17, 2018
CVT vows vigilance as Gina Haspel becomes CIA director, only after she admitted that the CIA torture program damaged the U.S. and should never have been implemented. Read the release here.

CVT Statement on Committee Vote
May 16, 2018
Curt Goering, CVT executive director, states that committee members who voted to confirm Haspel will find themselves on the wrong side of history.

Statement on Haspel’s Letter
May 15, 2018
Scott Roehm, CVT director of the Washington office, issued this statement in response to Gina Haspel’s letter claiming she will not take actions that violate her ethics.

Letter to Committee Members
May 15, 2018
36 organizations wrote this letter opposing the vote to advance Haspel’s nomination.

CVT Statement After the Hearing
May 9, 2018
Scott Roehm issued this statement following the confirmation hearing of Gina Haspel for CIA director.

Letter From Former Ambassadors of the U.S. to Senate
May 9, 2018
100+ former ambassadors of the U.S. registered serious concerns about Gina Haspel’s nomination to CIA director.

Letter to Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
May 8, 2018
50+ members of the House joined the Congressional Progressive Caucus in a letter to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, urging them to oppose the confirmation of Gina Haspel as CIA director. Read the press release and letter at these links.

Media Advisory: May 9, 2 pm Eastern
May 8, 2018
Senator Tina Smith, Rep. Barbara Lee and CVT to hold a press briefing to address why Gina Haspel’s record on torture and the destruction of videotapes documenting the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation program” disqualifies her from running the CIA.

Letter from Vice President Mondale
May 4, 2018
Vice President Walter Mondale wrote a letter to CVT supporters, urging action to oppose Haspel. Mr. Mondale writes about torture: “. . . there are some issues on which there shouldn’t even be a debate, and on which you don’t compromise ... ever.”

Letter to Senators
April 19, 2018
This is a defining moment. 40+ organizations join with CVT to urge Senators to oppose Gina Haspel’s nomination to CIA director, saying “we believe she is unfit to serve as the public-facing director for one of the government’s most powerful and secretive agencies.” Read the release and letters here.

CVT Press Release & Letter to Virginia Senators with 50+ Signatories
April 18, 2018
“Endorsing Ms. Haspel would reward torture, and send a disastrous message the world over—including to survivors of torture—that there is no accountability whatsoever for those who commit these grave human rights violations,” states a letter to Senators Kaine and Warner. More than 50 Virginia elected officials and leaders from the progressive and faith communities signed this letter urging the Virginai Senators to opposing Haspel’s confirmation. Read the press release and letter here.

CVT Letter to Senators
March 20, 2018
“We write to urge you to oppose Gina Haspel’s nomination to be director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Ms. Haspel played a significant, operational role in a program that tortured people. Elevating her to one of the highest and most powerful positions in government —especially when we have a President who has openly advocated for torture—would be a dangerous and damaging act.” – Curt Goering, executive director, and Scott Roehm, director of the Washington office.

CVT Press Release
The Center for Victims of Torture Strongly Opposes Haspel Nomination
March 15, 2018
“Gina Haspel was directly involved in the grisly day-to-day operations of the CIA torture program, then worked to destroy powerful evidence of the horrors it produced,” said Curt Goering, CVT executive director. “The Senate must reject her nomination.”

CVT Tele Town Hall
March 29, 2018
The CVT Policy Team held a telephone town hall meeting session to engage our supporters and the public about what can be done to oppose Ms. Haspel's nomination.

NEWS MEDIA

The Intercept
May 17, 2018
Yasmine Taeb, CVT senior policy counsel, is quoted in this article in The Intercept about a doctor’s work with one of the men tortured under Haspel’s supervision. Her quote was picked up in this article on Medium as well.

Blue Virginia
May 15, 2019
Yasmine Taeb is quoted in this article after Sen. Warner expressed support for Haspel’s nomination.

Public Radio International
May 15, 2018
Yasmine Taeb is quoted in this PRI article saying “It’s incredibly troubling senators are kept in the dark.”

The Intercept
May 14, 2018
Yasmine Taeb is quoted in this article in The Intercept, noting that the nomination fight is not over.

The Young Turks Investigates
May 11, 2018
Yasmine Taeb and Ryan Grim from The Intercept talk to The Young Turks about opposition to the Haspel nomination.

Public Radio InternationaI
May 11, 2108
Scott Roehm, director of the Washington office, notes that he is “deeply troubled by her unwillingness to say that what she did was immoral and wrong,” in this PRI article.

The Straits Times
May 9, 2018
Yasmine Taeb and the op ed she co-authored with Khizr Khan in the Daily Beast is quoted in this Straits Times article.

Middle East Eye
May 8, 2018
Scott Roehm comments in this article about the controversy surrounding Haspel’s nomination.

Now This Politics
May 7, 2018
A powerful video op ed featuring Alberto Mora, former general counsel U.S. Navy, and CVT's Scott Roehm.

Psychology Today
May 7, 2018
The APA took a stand against Haspel, mentioning CVT and other organizations as allies in this article.

Splinter News
May 6, 2018
The Daily Beast op ed by Khizr Khan and Yasmine Taeb is featured in this article.

May 5, 2018
Khizr Khan, Constitutional rights advocate, joins forces with Yasmine Taeb, CVT senior policy counsel, in vehemently opposing Haspel’s nomination to CIA director in this Daily Beast op ed.

 

Common Dreams
May 5, 2018
Reporter Andrea Germanos quotes CVT in this article’s sub-head and features one of our video tweets.

Just Security
May 4, 2018
No one should be fooled by “the latest in a long line of toothless CIA accountability exercises related to the torture program,” write Katherine Hawkins, investigator for the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), and Scott Roehm in this article.

Washington Post
May 3, 2018
This op ed by Léonce Byimana of TASSC denounces the nomination of Haspel and mentions CVT’s refugee torture survivor prevalence number of up to 1.3 million in the U.S.

Just Security
May 2, 2018
The letter to Virginia senators organized by CVT is mentioned and quoted in this article by Beth Van Schaack.

April 20, 2019
This article by Deb Riechmann for the Associated Press mentions CVT as organizer of the Virginia opposition letter, and appeared in over 130 media outlets, including The Chicago Sun Times, The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle and The Houston Chronicle.  

NBC News and New York Times
April 20, 2018
The April 19 coalition letter to Senators was referenced in articles the New York Times and NBC News, which also mentioned the April 18 letter to Virginia Senators.

April 19, 2018
Scott Roehm is quoted in this TIME Magazine article titled “Anti-Torture Groups Are Pushing Congress to Block Trump's Nominee to Head the CIA.” The article is by Maya Rhodan, who writes, “Roehm agrees that the information should be declassified, but says ‘we know enough and Senators should know enough at this point to oppose her nomination. She was complicit in torture.’”

April 18, 2018
CVT’s letter urging Virginia Senators to oppose Haspel is mentioned in this POLITICO article by Elana Schor, titled “Haspel confirmation hearing for CIA chief put off until May.”  

Common Dreams
April 19, 2018
The April 19 coalition letter to Senators was referenced and reprinted in this article in Common Dreams.

Blue Virginia
April 18, 2016
The letter organized by CVT and signed by 50+ Virginia elected officials and leaders from progressive/faith communities is cited and reprinted in this article by Lowell Feld.

The Daily Beat
April 12, 2018
Scott Roehm was a guest on The Daily Beat podcast, hosted by Joe Virgillito. They discussed CVT's opposition to Gina Haspel's nomination to CIA Director. Listen to Part One and Part Two.

POLITICO
March 19, 018
Scott Roehm is quoted in Elana Schor’s article at POLITICO about the Haspel and Pompeo nominations.