In January, CIA Director Gina Haspel and fellow spy chiefs testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee that North Korea was unlikely to abandon its nuclear weapons and that Iran was complying with a 2015 nuclear accord—assessments that seemed to undercut President Trump’s policies. Photo: Joshua Roberts/Reuters
Wall Street Journal: Under CIA Chief Gina Haspel, an Intelligence Service Returns to the Shadows
CIA director seeks the mute button—for herself and her agency.
WASHINGTON—At a gala dinner in February to raise funds for the families of Central Intelligence Agency officers killed in the line of duty, CIA Director Gina Haspel surprised her audience by delving into details of spycraft the agency has used to run agents on the streets of Moscow. But the crowd’s astonishment at the unusual revelation quickly evaporated when the spy chief confided that the material came from a journalist’s book.
After a year atop the CIA, Ms. Haspel is giving away few secrets. With a 35-year career in clandestine operations and a U.S. president who pounces when his spy chiefs contradict him publicly, she and her agency have adopted their lowest public profile in decades.
“She’s gone to ground,” said Mark Lowenthal, a former CIA official and staff director of the House Intelligence Committee. “It’s not going to be any good for her to be out there attracting lightning bolts.”
Interviews with nearly 20 current and former U.S. intelligence officials reveal a portrait of a CIA director who has been warmly received by the workforce she has spent her life among.
The CIA’s first female director since its 1947 founding, she has put in place her own leadership team—which also includes many women—and so far has avoided having President Trump’s political allies embedded in the agency’s senior ranks.
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WNU Editor: Best to work in the shadows.