| Notes |
Link copied…
| Politics
CIA Fills In Some Blanks on Gina Haspel’s Secret Life
A career as a clandestine officer has left little digital or paper trails on the CIA director nominee, so the agency is filling in some blanks: daughter of an airman, Kentucky native, Johnny Cash fan
Until last year, when Gina Haspel was named deputy director of the CIA, her name wasn’t even publicly known. Now, the agency is filling in some of the blanks.
Until last year, when Gina Haspel was named deputy director of the CIA, her name wasn’t even publicly known. Now, the agency is filling in some of the blanks. Photo: /Associated Press
By Nancy A.Youssef
March 22, 2018 3:02 p.m. ET
0 COMMENTS
As President Donald Trump’s nominee for one of the highest profile security posts in the world—Central Intelligence Agency director— Gina Haspel keeps a lower profile than almost anyone in the U.S.
After a career as a CIA clandestine officer, little, if anything, is known about Ms. Haspel’s private or public life. Her hometown, family background, education, marital status, interests and other details have remained shrouded in mystery. Until last year, when she was named deputy director of the agency, her name wasn’t publicly known.
On Thursday, however, the CIA began to release personal information about Ms. Haspel to Capitol Hill, where she has been meeting with legislators ahead of her coming confirmation hearing.
If confirmed, Ms. Haspel, 61 years old, would be the second person to become director after spending an entire career in clandestine operations. The first was Richard Helms, who served as the fifth director of Central Intelligence, from 1966 to ’73.
Forty-five years later, Ms. Haspel is attempting to move into an unusually public role—the first woman to head the CIA—while the agency strives to continue protecting elements of her decadeslong furtive career.
She became a spy before the internet age and remained in that secret life for three decades, leaving behind no digital profile. She isn’t on any social media page, LinkedIn, high-school or college alumni linkup group or even sites such as ancestry.com. She has no record of public speeches, writing or congressional testimony.
So it falls to the agency to share something about her and her interests. According to the CIA, she is a Johnny Cash fan and has a full-size cutout of the music icon in her office. She is single.
The CIA said she is a native of Ashland, Ky., the oldest of five children, and 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 U.K., the agency said, without naming which city.
Ms. Haspel wanted to attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, but her father told her girls weren’t welcome at the time, according to the agency. Instead, she graduated with honors from the University of Louisville with a degree in languages and journalism, according to the agency biography.
Upon leaving college, she traveled to Massachusetts to work as a contractor for the U.S. Army’s 10th Special Forces Group, which was then based there, working in the library and foreign language lab. |