Gina Haspel

Gina Haspel

Nonpartisan

Prior offices

Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency

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Director of the Central Intelligence Agency

Successor: William J. Burns

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Gina Haspel is the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). She was confirmed by the Senate by a vote of 54-45 on May 17, 2018, and she was sworn in on May 21, 2018. She was the first woman to head the agency. Haspel served until her resignation on January 19, 2021.

The CIA director "serves as the head of the Central Intelligence Agency and reports to the Director of National Intelligence. ... The Director manages the operations, personnel and budget of the CIA and acts as the National Human Source Intelligence (HUMINT) Manager," according to the CIA's website.

Biography

According to The Wall Street Journal, "Ms. Haspel was in the clandestine service most of her career, meaning her public record was nonexistent until last year when she became the deputy director. Clandestine operators are so secret that the CIA doesn’t even publicize their names when they get killed. Rather they are recognized with the addition of a star on a memorial inside the building headquarters, and their identities as CIA operatives often aren’t disclosed until decades later. When Ms. Haspel was named to the deputy director job last year and emerged year with a face and name, she had no prior record of public appearances or writings and no social-media history."

On March 22, 2018, The Wall Street Journal reported that the CIA told the newspaper that Haspel is "the daughter of an airman who raised her all around the world as he served at various bases." She graduated from high school in the United Kingdom. She then graduated from the University of Louisville with a degree in languages and journalism. After college, she worked as a contractor for the U.S. Army’s 10th Special Forces Group.

Career

Below is an abbreviated outline of Haspel's professional career:

• May 21, 2018–January 19, 2021: Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
• February 7, 2017–April 26, 2018: Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
• 1985–2017: Central Intelligence Agency officer; Deputy Director of the National Clandestine Service, Deputy Director of the National Clandestine Service for Foreign Intelligence and Covert Action, Chief of Staff for the Director of the National Clandestine Service, the Counterterrorist Center, and Chief of Station for several of her assignments

Director of the Central Intelligence Agency

Haspel is the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). She was sworn in on May 21, 2018. She was confirmed by the Senate by a vote of 54-45 on May 17, 2018. Democratic Sens. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.), Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), and Mark Warner (D-Va.) voted with 48 Republicans to confirm Haspel. Republican Sens. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) voted with 41 Democrats and independent Sens. Angus King (I-Maine) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) against Haspel's nomination. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who opposed her nomination, did not vote because he was undergoing treatment for brain cancer. Haspel resigned on January 19, 2021.

Nomination for director of the CIA

Nomination tracker
Candidate: Gina Haspel
Position: Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
Confirmation progress
a	Announced:	April 17, 2018
a	Hearing:	May 9, 2018
a	Committee:	Senate Intelligence Committee
a	Reported:	May 16, 2018 (10-5)
a	Confirmed:	May 17, 2018
a	Vote:	54-45

On March 13, 2018, President Donald Trump announced that he would nominate Haspel as the next CIA director after he announced that he would nominate Mike Pompeo, the former CIA director, as secretary of state. In a tweet Trump wrote, "Gina Haspel will become the new Director of the CIA, and the first woman so chosen." She was formally nominated on April 17, 2018.

"After 30 years as an officer of the Central Intelligence Agency, it has been my honor to serve as its Deputy Director alongside Mike Pompeo for the past year,” Haspel said in a statement. “I am grateful to President Trump for the opportunity, and humbled by his confidence in me, to be nominated to be the next Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.”

Senate Intelligence Committee hearing

Haspel appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee on May 9, 2018, for her confirmation hearing. During the hearing, she discussed the CIA’s detention and interrogation program after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, among other things. Her comments appear below.

• On the CIA’s detention and interrogation program after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks: In her opening statement, Haspel said, “I can offer you my personal commitment, clearly and without reservation, that under my leadership, on my watch, the CIA will not restart a detention and interrogation program. … The CIA has learned some tough lessons from that experience. We were asked to tackle a mission that fell outside our expertise.”

• When asked by Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) if interrogation techniques used by the CIA after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks were immoral, Haspel said she supported the "higher moral standards" that the U.S. has embraced since ending the use of the interrogation techniques. She said, "I believe CIA did extraordinary work to prevent another attack with the legal tools we were provided.”

• When asked by Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) if she would disregard an order by the president to reimplement detention and interrogation programs that were used after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, Haspel said, “No. I believe that CIA must undertake activities that are consistent with American values.” She also said, "My moral compass is strong. I would not allow CIA to undertake activity that I thought was immoral, even it was technically legal. I would absolutely not permit it.”

On May 16, 2018, the Senate Intelligence Committee recommended Haspel as CIA director in a 10-5 vote.

Support for Haspel

• Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.): “I do not have any concerns—she’s fully addressed those with the committee.”

• Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.): "After meeting with Gina Haspel, discussing her extensive experience as a CIA agent, and considering her time as Acting Director, I will vote to confirm her to be our next CIA Director. I have found Gina Haspel to be a person of great character. Over her 33 year career as a CIA operations officer, she has worked in some of the most dangerous corners of our world and I have the utmost respect for the sacrifices she has made for our country. She has earned the trust of her colleagues in the intelligence community and her intellect, steady temperament, vast knowledge of threats we face, and dedication to our country are undeniable. These attributes make her supremely qualified to serve as our next CIA Director. As a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I take the role of oversight very seriously and I look forward to working with Gina Haspel to ensure the people of West Virginia and the United States are kept safe."

• Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.): “As our country faces dynamic and challenging security threats, it is critically important that our intelligence agencies have the leadership and support that they need to help keep Americans safe and defend our nation from those who wish to do us harm. Gina Haspel has served our country and the Central Intelligence Agency for more than 30 years, and she has the strong support of both her colleagues at the agency and former CIA Directors Hayden, Panetta, and Brennan, who served under Presidents Bush and Obama. I had a tough, frank, and extensive discussion with Ms. Haspel on a wide range of topics, including her vision for the agency and how she would approach the job, as well as issues of detention and interrogation. I have also reviewed her record and her testimony before Congress. I believe that she has learned from the past, and that the CIA under her leadership can help our country confront serious international threats and challenges. Importantly, Ms. Haspel expressed to me her commitment to be responsive to congressional oversight and to provide her unvarnished assessment – both to members of Congress and the president. For those reasons, and after careful consideration, I will support Ms. Haspel’s nomination to lead the agency to which she has dedicated her career.”

• Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.): "Gina Haspel has served our country with dedication for 33 years. In many ways, her story is representative of the thousands of people at the Agency and throughout the intelligence community who serve quietly, without recognition, and often at great personal risk, in order to keep our nation safe from those who wish to do us harm. Over the last year I’ve had the opportunity to work with Ms. Haspel in her role as Deputy Director, and I have always found her to be professional and forthright with the Intelligence Committee. Most importantly, I believe she is someone who can and will stand up to the President if ordered to do something illegal or immoral – like a return to torture. ... I’m going to support Gina Haspel’s nomination to be Director of the CIA. I also respect my colleagues who have made a different decision."

• Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.): "It is particularly important that the Director of the CIA puts the mission of the agency and our country’s security far above partisan politics and that the director be highly respected by agency rank and file. After meeting her and talking with former leaders in our intelligence community, I have concluded that Gina Haspel meets these standards. I am therefore planning to vote to confirm her as Director of CIA. But this was not an easy decision. Ms. Haspel’s involvement in torture is deeply troubling, as my friend and colleague, John McCain, so eloquently reminded us. However, Ms. Haspel explained to me that the agency should not have employed such tactics in the past and has assured me that it will not do so in the future. While I trust her word, I will also verify, helping to ensure Congress conducts robust oversight of the CIA under her leadership."

• Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.): "Gina Haspel has dedicated her life to serving her country and the brave men and women who work at the CIA deserve a career professional, like her, to lead them. Gina Haspel has publicly acknowledged that the CIA’s enhanced interrogation program should not have been undertaken and has vowed to uphold our nation’s laws and values in leading the agency. She has earned the respect and backing of former intelligence chiefs from the Bush and Obama administrations. I will vote to support her nomination to be the next director of the CIA."

• Former Obama administration officials James Clapper and Michael Morrell: Clapper, the former director of national intelligence, said he was pleased with her appointment. Morrell, who served as acting director of the CIA on two separate occasions, said, “I applaud the appointment."

• Thirty-six former CIA chiefs, intelligence community leaders, and lawmakers, including former CIA Director Michael Hayden, former National Security Agency Director Gen. Keith Alexander, former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Michael Rogers (R-Mich.), former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, and former Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell: "We are all former senior government officials with national security experience in administrations of different parties or on Capitol Hill. We believe that Ms. Haspel is an excellent choice to lead the CIA at a time when our intelligence community is under significant pressure at home and abroad. A strong CIA director, with deep roots in Langley and the [intelligence community], is a critical asset for our nation at this time in our history. ... As a human intelligence officer, there is no doubt that Ms. Haspel was often called upon to make tough choices and to work on matters that some find deeply controversial. But she did so with dedication and commitment to the cause of freedom, democracy, and the rule of law, as well as to the safety and security of our nation and its citizens."

Opposition to Haspel

• Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.): Haspel's background “makes her unsuitable to serve as CIA director.” He also "called for classified information about her to be released," according to The Wall Street Journal.

• Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.): "My announcement today is that I will oppose both Pompeo's nomination and Haspel's nomination. ... I'm perplexed by the nomination of people who love the Iraq War so much that they would advocate for a war with Iran next. I think it goes against most of the things President Trump campaigned on." Paul said he would oppose Haspel's nomination because of her involvement in certain interrogation techniques after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He said she showed "joyful glee at someone who is being tortured. I find it just amazing that anyone would consider having this woman at the head of the CIA."

• Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.): “I believe Gina Haspel is a patriot who loves our country and has devoted her professional life to its service and defense. However, Ms. Haspel’s role in overseeing the use of torture by Americans is disturbing. Her refusal to acknowledge torture’s immorality is disqualifying. I believe the Senate should exercise its duty of advice and consent and reject this nomination.”

• Raha Wala of Human Rights First: “No one who had a hand in torturing individuals deserves to ever hold public office again, let alone lead an agency.”

Personal

Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Haspel is a Johnny Cash fan. According to the CIA, she had a full-size cutout of the singer in her office.

See also

• Central Intelligence Agency
• U.S. Department of State

External links

• Search Google News for this topic

Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by Mike Pompeo	Director of the Central Intelligence Agency 2018-2021	Succeeded by -