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A2 UP FRONT
Tuesday 25 sepTember 2018

CIA director outlines priorities for the agency

By BRUCE SCHREINER "I don't think that they want
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Re- to give it up easily," Haspel
calling her rise through said shortly before Trump
male-dominated ranks, CIA said that a second summit
Director Gina Haspel said with North Korea's Kim Jong
she wants to champion di- Un was likely to occur "quite
versity at the spy agency soon."
as she returned to her alma Haspel said, however, that
mater Monday for a public she believes the U.S. is in
event where she outlined a better place than dur-
her priorities for the agency ing North Korea's unprec-
and disclosed a few per- edented level of testing
sonal details of her life. last year "because of the
Haspel delved into some dialogue we've established
of the United States' tough- between our two leaders."
est challenges around the On China, Haspel said the
world during wide-ranging CIA was monitoring Beijing's
comments at the University global ambitions, including
of Louisville. The CIA's first fe- its investments in Africa,
male director also lifted the Latin America, the Pacific
veil behind her life, listing Islands and South Asia.
some of her favorite John- "They want to be dominant
ny Cash songs, her reading in the Asia-Pacific region, of
preferences when not por- CIA Director Gina Haspel addresses the audience as part of the McConnell Center Distinguished course, and unfortunately
ing through CIA briefings Speaker Series at the University of Louisville, Monday, Sept. 24, 2018, in Louisville, Ky. they are working to dimin-
and her most memorable Associated Press ish U.S. influence in order to
celebrity encounter. That advance their own goals in
would be Queen Elizabeth, around the world as the said. One of her priorities is in our sights, but we are the region," she said.
and yes, the queen knew daughter of an Air Force to champion diversity in re- sharpening our focus on On Iran, she said the Iranian
she was a CIA operative. serviceman. She worked cruiting officers of all gen- nation state adversaries." people are suffering from
"The queen is extremely in Africa, Europe and clas- ders, races and cultures. Haspel said she also is work- economic problems be-
well-briefed," Haspel told sified locations around the "Our global mission at CIA ing to invest in foreign-lan- cause their economy has
the audience. globe and was tapped as demands that we recruit guage training to make been mismanaged. She
She flashed a sense of hu- deputy director of the CIA and retain America's best sure CIA officers are at- said she has been surprised
mor, noting a real-life un- last year. She worked under and brightest, regardless tuned to the cultures where at the amount of money
dercover officer would be former CIA director Mike of gender, race or cultural they work. Another one of Iran is spending to prop up
better suited in a "beige Pompeo until President background," she said. her priorities is to increase the government of Syrian
Hyundai" than a flashy Donald Trump moved him "And I want every officer to the number of officers sta- President Bashar Assad and
sports car as portrayed in to secretary of state. have equal opportunities tioned overseas. expand its influence in Iraq.
movies. And the native Haspel recalled moments to succeed." She said the CIA also is Haspel's appearance was
of Ashland, Kentucky, re- that helped put her ca- The Senate confirmed her working to beef up counter part of the McConnell
vealed her fondness for reer on its trajectory — her in May to lead the spy narcotics efforts abroad to Center's speaker series at
Kentucky bourbon as a gift first meeting with a foreign agency. She told the Louis- address the nation's opioid UofL. The center is named
to visiting foreign officials. agent who passed along ville audience that another crisis. for Senate Majority Leader
"Among my greatest plea- intelligence during a ren- top priority is to invest more During a question-and- Mitch McConnell, who on
sures as director are my dezvous in a "remote and heavily in collecting intelli- answer session, she listed Monday said Haspel's "un-
relationships with foreign desolate place," and the gence against nation state London and Istanbul as rivaled expertise is helping
counterparts who come nights spent sleeping on adversaries as well as Islam- her favorite overseas cities secure America's position
to visit," Haspel said. "And the floor while station chief ic extremists. and confessed to enjoying on the world stage."
I made it a tradition that in a small "frontier post." "Our efforts against these lighter reading fare during Haspel's appearance drew
when ... foreign heads of The CIA was male-domi- difficult intelligence gaps spare time. One of her most protests from a small group
service visit Langley, Virgin- nated then, she said, but have been overshadowed recent reads was "Hillbilly El- of students who chanted in
ia, and sit with me in my of- she was lucky to have boss- over the years by the intel- egy." She was asked about the rain while huddled un-
fice, I send them away with es willing to take a chance ligence community's jus- problem spots around der umbrellas. They cited
a bottle of very fine Ken- on her. tifiable heavy emphasis the world. On North Ko- her past role supervising
tucky bourbon. And we are Through the years, the on counterterrorism in the rea, Haspel said she thinks a covert detention site in
moving through a number CIA has "become a better wake of 9/11," she said. Pyongyang views its nucle- Thailand where terror sus-
so far." place to work" for all its of- "Groups such as the so- ar weapons program as pects were waterboarded,
While touting her Kentucky ficers, but the agency still called Islamic State and leverage and a key to the an interrogation technique
roots, Haspel grew up "has a way to go," Haspel al-Qaida remain squarely survival of its government. that simulates drowning.q