Gina Haspel wrong choice for top CIA job

Thank you for the courage of your editorial on Trump’s nominee to head the CIA (“A player in the CIA’s dark days shouldn’t get the agency’s top job” — May 9).

Reflective of the depths we have fallen morally as a nation is the very presence of Guantanamo and other “black sites” where torture is carried out in our name.

Unquestionably, the nominee headed up one such torture chamber in Thailand. Her response to questioning about torture is indicative of the present moral condition of the people who run this country. Lost in all the questioning is the fact that torture is a violation of the Geneva Conventions and international law.

So after perpetuating torture in her job in Thailand, she now declares it is ineffective, not immoral, of course.

Edward Juillard, Morgan Park

Wisconsin candidate Nicholson must speak about climate change

Sen. Tammy Duckworth criticizes Wisconsin GOP Senate candidate and former Marine Kevin Nicholson for questioning the “cognitive thought process” of veterans who are Democrats. According to Nicholson: “I disagree with a thought process that leads you to vote for a Democrat like Tammy Baldwin, who doesn’t take any of these issues on national security seriously.”

However, Sen. Baldwin has spoken on the Senate floor about the impact of climate change, which the Department of Defense states is a threat multiplier that can enable terrorism and other forms of violence. The U.S. military has expressed concern about climate change since the George W. Bush Administration, and dozens of Department of Defense documents on this issue can be accessed at climateandsecurity.org.

With the GOP routinely dismissing the climate threat, it’s important for voters to know if Nicholson breaks with his party and supports our military on this subject. Nicholson touts himself as a straight talker, and he should be called upon to explain his view on the relationship between climate change and national security.

Terry Hansen, Oak Creek, Wisconsin