WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Seeking to boost support for her nomination as CIA Director, Gina Haspel sent a letter to Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Virg., on Monday claiming she now believes the CIA should not have undertaken its enhanced interrogation program.
'While I won't condemn those that made these hard calls, and I have noted the valuable intelligence collected, the program ultimately did damage to our officers and our standing in the world,' Haspel wrote.
'With the benefit of hindsight and my experience as a senior Agency leader, the enhanced interrogation program is not one the CIA should have undertaken,' she added. 'The United States must be an example to the rest of the world, and I support that.'
Haspel noted that if she is confirmed as CIA Director, she would refuse to undertake any proposed activity that is contrary to her moral and ethical values.
The letter comes as Haspel has faced some criticism for failing to speak out forcefully enough against enhanced interrogations, which she oversaw as chief of a CIA black site in Thailand.
Republican Senators Rand Paul, R-Ken., and John McCain, R-Ariz., have expressed opposition to Haspel's nomination over her role in the enhanced interrogations, which critics claim amount to torture.
Meanwhile, Haspel has received support from Democratic Senators Joe Manchin, W-V., and Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., who are both up for re-election in states that President Donald Trump won in 2016.
Trump suggested in a post on Twitter last week that Democrats oppose Haspel's nomination because she is 'too tough on terror.'
'My highly respected nominee for CIA Director, Gina Haspel, has come under fire because she was too tough on Terrorists,' Trump tweeted.
He added, 'Think of that, in these very dangerous times, we have the most qualified person, a woman, who Democrats want OUT because she is too tough on terror. Win Gina!'
The Senate Intelligence Committee is expected to vote on Haspel's nomination as CIA Director on Wednesday, with a vote in the full Senate likely next week.
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