Top 30 Gina Haspel Quotes

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

In general, preliminary Force Protection information is shared throughout the national security community – and with U.S. allies – as part of our ongoing efforts to ensure the safety of coalition forces overseas. Leaks compromise and disrupt the critical interagency work to collect, assess, and ascribe culpability.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

First of all, CIA follows the law.

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.

I don’t believe that torture works.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.’

I know CIA like the back of my hand.