WASHINGTON _ Gina Haspel, a Kentucky native, loves Johnny Cash so much she keeps a 5-foot-tall poster of the country music star in her office at the Central Intelligence Agency. She became a spy more than three decades ago, a time when few women filled that job, and rose through the ranks holding some of the agency's most sensitive posts.
She once orchestrated a last-minute operation that captured two terrorists linked to the bombing of an embassy _ earning one of the agency's highest honors, according to her official biography.
When she appears before the U.S. Senate as President Donald Trump's nominee to run the agency, however, all that could fade in the glare of one chapter in a long career _ her role after the Sept. 11 attacks, when she was stationed at a "black site" in Thailand where detainees were waterboarded.
Haspel's supporters, who include intelligence veterans from both political parties, say the full measure of her experience has perfectly prepared her to head the nation's premiere spy agency. Not only would she be the first woman to hold that job, she would be only the second director in the agency's history to have spent an entire career in its clandestine service _ responsible for the difficult decisions that officers in the field face every day.
She remained undercover until last year, when she took over the agency's No. 2 position, and her agency-approved biography leaves many gaps.
The agency won't say, for example, what role she played in counterterrorism operations or in which countries she served _ although it's known her first overseas assignment was in Africa and she once headed the agency's station in London, a prestigious posting involving close coordination with the United States' closest ally.
That classified background poses a challenge for senators vetting her nomination.
"I think the more transparency, the better," said Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has demanded more information from Haspel, focusing on her role in Bush-era "enhanced interrogation techniques." He has sent her a detailed list of questions about waterboarding, forced nudity, slapping and sleep deprivation.
"We now know that these techniques not only failed to deliver actionable intelligence, but actually produced false and misleading information," wrote McCain, who suffered torture as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.
"The use of torture compromised our values, stained our national honor, and threatened our historical reputation," he wrote.
Haspel's personal views on torture remain unclear, as do her thoughts on challenges facing the United States, including Russian political interference, North Korea's nuclear program and the grinding battle against Islamic State in the Middle East.
All of that will face close scrutiny when her hearings convene.
"No one really likes to go through it," said Michael Vickers, a former intelligence and defense official who went through the confirmation process twice during his career. "People have compared it to a proctology exam. You get your life laid out."
The process could prove especially intense in the closely divided Senate. Republicans hold 51 seats in the Senate, but GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky has already announced his opposition to Haspel. McCain's support is in doubt as he spends time away from the Senate battling cancer.
That means Haspel will almost certainly need some Democratic votes. A pivotal one could be that of Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the previous Democratic chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who led the drafting of a 2014 report criticizing the use of torture.
When Trump announced Haspel's nomination, Feinstein said, "To the best of my knowledge she has been a good deputy director."
But she has since toughened her rhetoric, saying she was "very wary" of promoting someone "so heavily involved in the torture program."
"Her experience may have served her well as deputy, but the top position is another matter entirely," Feinstein said.
