The banality of Gina Haspel

When you don't enforce laws prohibiting gravely immoral acts, you get gravely immoral leaders

Gina Haspel.
(Image credit: Illustrated | AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Digital Vision ii/Alamy Stock Photo)

Gina Haspel appears, at first, to be very unthreatening. During her confirmation hearing to become CIA director on Wednesday, she wore a modest tan jacket, spoke in a flat, Midwest-inflected tone, and resembled nothing so much as a kindly public school principal giving a budget presentation.

Don't be fooled.

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Ryan Cooper

Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.