The Washington Examiner is generally pro-Trump in its coverage but this report from White House correspondent Rob Crilly conveys the dismay widely felt in the intelligence service about the president’s recent actions. Kevin Carroll, a former CIA case officer, said, “It’s a very troubled relationship. Trump got it off to a terrible start with comments...
Category: Gina Haspel
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Gina Haspel’s Classmates Set the Record Straight on Lakenheath High
My story about Gina Haspel’s education, “The Girl Who Became Spymaster” has generated a furry of comments from Lakenheath alumni. Several took exception to some or all of my description of Haspel’s experience there as “insulated, demanding and militarized.” So let’s hear what they have to say. Was the school demanding, ie., did it have...
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The Girl Who Became Spymaster
When Gina Haspel, director of the CIA, gave her first public speech last fall at the University of Louisville, she mentioned in passing that she had gone to boarding school in England. Where? I wondered. The formative years of spies can illuminate the trajectory of their otherwise shadowy careers. James Angleton, the legendary chief of...
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What Is Gina Haspel Worth?
Financially, she’s well off, but hardly rich. The CIA director’s 2018 financial disclosure statement, posted by the Office of Government Ethics and flagged by Russ Kick, fits the profile of a career civil servant. Haspel sold a house in Virginia in June 2018 and netted somewhere between $250,000 and $500,00 dollars. She kept a lot...
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Gina Haspel’s Perilous Relationship with Trump
The CIA director has searched for ways to connect with her boss in the White House: with a picture of dead ducks allegedly killed by poison used by GRU agents to assassinate (unsuccessfully) turncoat Russian agent Sergey Skripal. According to The New York Times, she appeals to his known interest in American hostages. Early in...