美国国家公共电台 NPR The CIA Introduces Gina Haspel After Her Long Career Undercover

 

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The nominee¹ to replace Mike Pompeo is his deputy, Gina Haspel. She worked undercover for three decades in some of the CIA's most challenging jobs, but critics are focused on her role in the CIA's waterboarding campaign. In response, the CIA is waging a rare public relations campaign ahead of what's looking like a tough Senate confirmation² hearing. Here's NPR's Greg Myre.

GREG MYRE, BYLINE³: Gina Haspel has a 5-foot-tall poster of Johnny Cash in her office. She's a college basketball fan. She majored in journalism⁴. All these tidbits come from the CIA as it provides a personal portrait of Haspel. The aim is to counter critics, including key senators, who question whether her links to waterboarding should disqualify her from the top job.

MICHAEL VICKERS: She is a consummate⁵ professional. She's been doing this for 30 years in a lot of tough assignments.

MYRE: Michael Vickers is a former CIA officer and Pentagon official. In the early 1980s, he was an Army Green Beret when he met Haspel. She was just out of college and working at the library on a military base.

VICKERS: As I was checking out some field manuals to study, we had a conversation about, you know, her background. And I was interested in going into the CIA down the road, and I suggested it. And lo and behold⁶, that's what she did.

MYRE: Fast forward 30 years, and they work together in senior national security positions - Haspel at CIA, Vickers at the Pentagon. Haspel, the first woman nominated to lead the CIA, has a mostly blank public record due to her clandestine⁷ career. One period getting intense scrutiny⁸ is her time at a CIA black site prison in Thailand where al-Qaida suspects were waterboarded in 2002. The CIA won't discuss it - classified, they say. But some senators are demanding to know more in advance of her confirmation hearing on May 9.

PAUL PILLAR: If I were a senator, of course the torture issue, the enhanced interrogation issue will have to be the focus of those hearings.

MYRE: Paul Pillar spent nearly three decades at the CIA. Would he vote for Haspel?

PILLAR: I think this is one of these cases where the confirmation hearings will be very important, especially with regard to the issue of interrogations. And we should wait to hear what she says.

MYRE: Over the past decade, the government has addressed torture in several ways. President Barack Obama outlawed⁹ it by executive order. Congress passed a law banning it. The Army Field Manual, which lists permissible¹⁰ forms of interrogation, does not include waterboarding. Yet CIA critic John Prados of the National Security Archive, which advocates for open government, says there needs to be a public reckoning.

JOHN PRADOS: If this is handled on the basis of the CIA trying to evade¹¹ the issue by claiming the torture didn't happen, it didn't exist, then it will just make things worse.

MYRE: For now, the CIA is focused on promoting Haspel's story. Her father was Air Force. She grew up on military bases abroad, high school in Britain, graduated from the University of Louisville. At the CIA, her first foreign assignment was in Africa. Haspel described her work as right out of a spy novel; it really didn't get any better than that.

MARY MARGARET GRAHAM: She's out there to recruit spies to steal secrets on behalf of the United States. She did that job well.

MYRE: Mary Margaret Graham was a longtime colleague. She's now retired¹² from the CIA. As Haspel rose through the ranks, she asked to be posted to the agency's counterterrorism center. Her first day on that job - September 11, 2001. Four years later, amid controversy¹³ surrounding the treatment of prisoners, Haspel wrote a cable. It called for the destruction of videotapes that showed al-Qaida suspects being waterboarded. The tapes were destroyed, and some in Congress were furious. An internal CIA review later cleared Haspel of any wrongdoing. Now her biggest challenge is winning over skeptics in the Senate. Greg Myre, NPR News, Washington.

1 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

2 confirmation   

n.证实，确认，批准

参考例句：

• We are waiting for confirmation of the news.我们正在等待证实那个消息。
• We need confirmation in writing before we can send your order out.给你们发送订购的货物之前，我们需要书面确认。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

5 consummate   

adj.完美的；v.成婚；使完美 [反]baffle

参考例句：

• The restored jade burial suit fully reveals the consummate skill of the labouring people of ancient China.复原后的金缕玉衣充分显示出中国古代劳动人民的精湛工艺。
• The actor's acting is consummate and he is loved by the audience.这位演员技艺精湛，深受观众喜爱。

6 behold   

v.看，注视，看到

参考例句：

• The industry of these little ants is wonderful to behold.这些小蚂蚁辛勤劳动的样子看上去真令人惊叹。
• The sunrise at the seaside was quite a sight to behold.海滨日出真是个奇景。

7 clandestine   

adj.秘密的，暗中从事的

参考例句：

• She is the director of clandestine operations of the CIA.她是中央情报局秘密行动的负责人。
• The early Christians held clandestine meetings in caves.早期的基督徒在洞穴中秘密聚会。

8 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。

9 outlawed   

宣布…为不合法（outlaw的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Most states have outlawed the use of marijuana. 大多数州都宣布使用大麻为非法行为。
• I hope the sale of tobacco will be outlawed someday. 我希望有朝一日烟草制品会禁止销售。

10 permissible   

adj.可允许的，许可的

参考例句：

• Is smoking permissible in the theatre?在剧院里允许吸烟吗？
• Delay is not permissible,even for a single day.不得延误，即使一日亦不可。

11 evade   

vt.逃避，回避；避开，躲避

参考例句：

• He tried to evade the embarrassing question.他企图回避这令人难堪的问题。
• You are in charge of the job.How could you evade the issue?你是负责人，你怎么能对这个问题不置可否？

12 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

13 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。