When a very tough, old school leader announced that I was his pick to be Chief of Station in a small but important frontier post, a few competitors complained to me directly 'why would they send you?' I owe that leader much for believing in me at a time when few women were given these opportunities.

Gina Haspel

I stand on the shoulders of heroines who never sought public acclaim but served as inspirations to the generations that came after them.

Gina Haspel

Who Them Tan

First of all, CIA follows the law.

Gina Haspel

T Lows Low

I was proud to be the first woman to serve as the No. 2 in the Clandestine Service. It is not my way to trumpet the fact that I am a woman up for the top job, but I would be remiss in not remarking on it - not least because of the outpouring of support from young women at CIA who consider it a good sign for their own prospects.

Gina Haspel

Women Pet Men

I know CIA like the back of my hand.

Gina Haspel

T Now Like

My childhood overseas instilled in me an appreciation for foreign languages and cultures, but also a deep understanding of the vital role of American leadership in confronting aggression abroad.

Gina Haspel

Leadership Age Vital

Just to talk a moment about transparency, of course CIA does have a Twitter account.

Gina Haspel

Mom Men Wit

I joined the CIA in 1985 as an operations officer in the Clandestine Service.

Gina Haspel

Vice Tin T

My moral compass is strong.

Gina Haspel

T Strong Pass

The American people and our allies around the world can rely on CIA's vigilance, excellence, and determination to proudly serve.

Gina Haspel

World Vigilance UN

When a very tough, old school leader announced that I was his pick to be Chief of Station in a small but important frontier post, a few competitors complained to me directly 'why would they send you?' I owe that leader much for believing in me at a time when few women were given these opportunities.

Gina Haspel

Women Time Pet

Within the Intelligence Community, CIA is the keeper of the human intelligence mission. Technical forms of collection are vital, but a good human source is unique and can deliver decisive intelligence on our adversaries' secrets - even their intent.

Gina Haspel

Intelligence Good Within

People often ask CIA Directors what keeps them up at night. Between rogue WMD programs, cyber threats, terrorist organizations, great power rivalries, and other global threats, there's bound to be more than a single reason I'm losing sleep on any given night.

Gina Haspel

Power Great Up

From my first days in training, I had a knack for the nuts and bolts of my profession.

Gina Haspel

Training Train T

When developing intelligence assessments, initial tactical reports often require additional collection and validation.

Gina Haspel

Men Intelligence Validation

I was born in Kentucky and, while my family has deep roots there, I was an Air Force brat, and we followed my father to postings all over the world.

Gina Haspel

Family World While

Because of what happened on 9/11, a lot of our resources, our money and our people were dedicated to the terrorism fight.

Gina Haspel

Money Were Use

After 9/11, I didn't look to go sit on the Swiss desk - I stepped up. I was not on the sidelines.

Gina Haspel

Up T Swiss

I would not put C.I.A. officers at risk by asking them to undertake risky, controversial activity again.

Gina Haspel

Would UN Them

As both a career intelligence officer and as an American citizen, I am a strong believer in the importance of oversight. Simply put, experience has taught us that CIA cannot be effective without the people's trust, and we cannot hope to earn that trust without the accountability that comes with Congressional oversight.

Gina Haspel

Trust Intelligence Hope

If we cannot share aspects of our secret work with the public, we should do so with their elected representatives. For CIA oversight is a vital link to the open society we defend. It's a defining feature of the U.S. intelligence community and one of the many things that distinguishes us from the hostile services we face in the field.

Gina Haspel

I think it is important to recall the context of those challenging times immediately following 9/11. For me, I had just returned to Washington from an overseas posting and I reported for duty on the morning of 9/11. I knew in my gut when I saw the video of the first plane hitting the tower in Manhattan that it was bin Laden.

Gina Haspel

I excelled in finding and acquiring secret information that I obtained in brush passes, dead drops, or in meetings in dusty alleys of third world capitals.

Gina Haspel

It is very important that the director of the Central Intelligence Agency adhere to the same classification guidelines that all employees must adhere to because there are very good reason for those classification guidelines.

Gina Haspel

As I look back on my first year as Director, I am more in awe of the men and women at CIA than ever before.

Gina Haspel

For me, as for our entire Agency family, the 129 stars on CIA's Memorial Wall are more than just symbols. They are solemn reminders of friends and colleagues who answered their nation's call, and who willingly risked their lives to protect us all.

Gina Haspel

We want our men and women to be closely attuned to the cultures in which they operate and to speak the local language.

Gina Haspel

A lot has changed since I first arrived at CIA, but our mission remains as relevant and important as ever. And this is what makes our officers excited to come to work each morning, including me.

Gina Haspel

After years of failure, I do think that President Trump has shown a lot of wisdom in reaching out his hand to the North Korean leader and to suggest to them that there might be a different future for the North Korean people.

Gina Haspel

I was on the front lines in the Cold War, and I was on the front lines in the fight against Al Qaeda.

Gina Haspel

We got valuable information from debriefing of Al Qaeda detainees, and I don't think it's knowable whether interrogation techniques played a role in that.

Gina Haspel

I wrote a letter to the CIA on my manual college typewriter. I mailed it to CIA with my resume. I didn't have an address. So I just put, 'CIA. Washington, D.C.'

Gina Haspel

We try and be as open as we can, and to protect the secrets that we must protect.

Gina Haspel

The change from being undercover to coming out into the open was a bit of an adjustment.

Gina Haspel

Intelligence services all over the world, in order to retain their competitive edge, have to adapt or they won't survive.

Gina Haspel

CIA has been treated with enormous respect and our expertise is valued for what we bring to the table.

Gina Haspel

I think it's very important, I think for any leader as you go through a career you have to learn the leadership lessons.

Gina Haspel

I'm very proud of the fact that we captured the perpetrator of 9/11, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. I think we did extraordinary work.

Gina Haspel

I support the higher moral standard that this country has decided to hold itself to.

Gina Haspel

I recall my first foreign agent meeting was on a dark, moonless night with an agent I'd never met before. When I picked him up, he passed me the intelligence and I passed him extra money for the men he led. It was the beginning of an adventure I had only dreamed of.

Gina Haspel

I would not allow CIA to undertake activity that is immoral, even if it is technically legal.

Gina Haspel

I would not restart, under any circumstances, an interrogation program at CIA.

Gina Haspel

I think you will find me to be a typical middle-class American.

Gina Haspel

In carrying out every aspect of our work, CIA officers are guided by a professional ethos that is the sum of our abiding principles, core values, and highest aspirations. These include service, integrity, excellence, courage, teamwork, and stewardship. Sacrifice, too, is an inescapable part of our mission.

Gina Haspel

Nothing is more important to those of us at CIA than our obligation to earn the trust of our fellow citizens.

Gina Haspel

In all of my assignments, I have conducted myself honorably and in accordance with U.S. law.

Gina Haspel

I don't believe that torture works.

Gina Haspel

We must learn from the past, but we cannot dwell in the past.

Gina Haspel

We must constantly learn, adjust, improve, and strive to be better.

Gina Haspel

Hostile states' use of proxies in war zones to inflict damage on U.S. interests and troops is a constant, longstanding concern.

Gina Haspel