Russia has been a priority target throughout her career. That was clear when former Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., introduced Haspel at her Senate hearing: “She is a clear-eyed, hard-nosed expert on Russia,” he said. Haspel, an Air Force brat from Ashland, Kentucky, joined the CIA in January 1985 when she was 28. At the time, then-CIA Director William Casey was working to counter Soviet expansion, curtail Moscow’s influence, win the Cold War, and bolster up U.S. intelligence operations. She didn’t become a reports officer, analyzing information from the field; that was the most likely career track for a woman in the CIA at that time. Instead, Haspel chose to be a case...
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