Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I would like to discuss my decision to vote against the President's nomination of Gina Haspel to be the next Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, CIA. First, let me state that I have immense respect for the men and women of the CIA. I have had the opportunity to meet many of them and to personally offer my thanks in some of the world's most dangerous locations. Their work is difficult and demanding but critical to helping safeguard our nation. I do not question Ms. Haspel's patriotism, intellect, or dedication to the CIA. She has ably served the agency and several Administrations, both Democratic and Republican. Ms. Haspel is clearly a committed professional. I welcome Ms. Haspel's statement of support for the ``stricter moral standard'' legislatively imposed by Congress with respect to interrogation policies and her admission that, in hindsight, the use of coercive interrogation techniques was a mistake. However, I remain troubled that Ms. Haspel failed to clearly articulate a view that the use of coercive interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, was immoral. As discussed in a 2008 report by the Senate Armed Services Committee, the CIA's so-called enhanced interrogation techniques were based on Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape, or SERE, techniques used to train members of our military to resist torture.…”