Gina Haspel, the veteran CIA undercover officer President Donald Trump picked on Tuesday to head the agency, is supported by many in the US intelligence community but has faced criticism for overseeing a secret CIA prison in Thailand where detainees were tortured. The C.I.A.’s first overseas detention site was in Thailand. It was run by Ms. Haspel, who oversaw the brutal interrogations of two detainees, Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. According to the New York Times, Mr. Zubaydah alone was waterboarded 83 times in a single month, had his head repeatedly slammed into walls and endured other harsh methods before interrogators decided he had no useful information to provide. Several key Republican senators say Haspel will have to answer for her role in the CIA’s interrogation and detention program before she can be confirmed as the next CIA director, a signal that she faces a bruising and potentially difficult confirmation battle ahead.