Gina Haspel (CIA)

Some Lesser Known Facts About Gina Haspel

• Gina was raised in a disciplined environment in military bases worldwide as her father was in the Air Force.

• Her first job was of running a library and foreign language lab at a Special Forces base in Massachusetts. There someone suggested her to have a career at the CIA. She always wanted to go abroad and learn different languages, and it was a good enough reason for her to apply for a job in the CIA.

• In 1985, she joined the CIA as a ‘reports officer’ specializing in Russia and has been fluent in Russian since then.

• After becoming CIA’s undercover officer, her first field assignment was in Ethiopia from 1987 to 1989.

• While she was posted in Azerbaijan, she detained 2 men linked to the 1998 US Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

• In 2001, she requested a transfer to the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center (CTC), and her first day was September 1 (9/11).

• In 2002, she led the secret CIA base in Thailand where “enhanced interrogation techniques” were carried out such as “waterboarding” for the terrorism suspects.

• In 2008, she was posted to London where she played a pivotal role in forcing the UK to take a bigger role in the Predator drone programme that was hitting Al Qaeda in Pakistan, of which Britain was a bit reluctant.

• In 2013, she became the director of the National Clandestine Service, a small component of the CIA.

• She came back to the U.S from London, and in 2014, she was again reposted to London until 2017.

• It is believed that she was posted in London to keep her away from the investigations related to the 9/11 in Washington.

• On her return to the U.S. in 2017, she played a pivotal role in the suspension of Russian diplomats.

• After 33 years of service in the CIA, in May 2018, she became the first-ever female CIA director, in a 54 to 45 vote. 

• Before becoming the director of the CIA, she was serving as the Chief of Staff to the Deputy Director for Operations in the CIA.

• She has spent most of her career in the CIA as an undercover officer.

• She is such a huge fan of singer-songwriter Johnny Cash that she always keeps a long poster of him in her CIA office. 

• She is an avid dog lover.