Decisions, Decisions

As John Brennan moved into the CIA director’s office this month, another high-level transition was taking place down the hall.

A week earlier, a woman had been placed in charge of the CIA’s clandestine service for the first time in the agency’s history. She is a veteran officer with broad support inside the agency. But she also helped run the CIA’s detention and interrogation program after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and signed off on the 2005 decision to destroy videotapes of prisoners being subjected to treatment critics have called torture.

  WaPo

So that earned her a promotion. Sure. Why not.

The woman, who remains undercover and cannot be named, was put in the top position on an acting basis when the previous chief retired last month. The question of whether to give her the job permanently poses an early quandary for Brennan, who is already struggling to distance the agency from the decade-old controversies.

He was a supporter of the torture program himself. I'm sure he'll figure something out. Or...if she were a man, he would.

UPDATE 8/20/18:

We now know this woman to be Gina Haspel, whom President Donald Trump (!!!) has named as the first woman Director of the CIA and who was confirmed by Congress, replacing Mike Pompeo,  who was moved to head the State Department, replacing Trump's first choice, Rex Tillerson.  Just one of many changes Trump has made in less than two years in the most chaotic and scandal-ridden administration in modern history.  Additionally, Trump has just stripped ex-Director Brennan of his security clearance for saying disparaging things about Trump.