Trump’s Choice for CIA Chief Gina Haspel’s Already Nabbing Intelligence ‘Moles’

Gina Haspel, a veteran spy nominated to head the nation's largest intelligence asset, Central Intelligence Agency, who will become the first woman offered the powerful position, was a career spymaster who once ran a CIA prison for Islamic terrorists in Thailand.

News outlets claim that under Haspel’s watch, jihadist suspects were waterboarded — a harsh interrogation technique President Donald Trump has supported.

However, according to a large number of intelligence officers and law enforcement officials, there are only three terror suspects who have undergone the “intensified” interrogation program that included.

CIA Director Mike Pompeo, now the Trump Secretary of State appointed Haspel as the first female CIA officer to be named deputy director on February 2, 2017, and at the time, his choice was widely praised by top national security officials including former CIA Director Michael Hayden and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who is a vocal Trump critic.

Big Week for Nabbing Inside Spies

The U.S. Justice Department this week successfully prosecuted two “moles” who stole U.S. intelligence. One of the suspects,  Jerry Chun Shing Lee, turned over classified information to the Chinese military. He was an American citizen from Hong Kong,

The second suspect, Reynaldo B. Regis, 53, of Fort Washington, Maryland, and a former CIA contractor, pleaded guilty Friday to unauthorized removal and retention of classified materials, and making material false statements to federal law enforcement officers.

Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers, Acting U.S. Attorney Tracy Doherty-McCormick for the Eastern District of Virginia and Assistant Director in Charge Nancy McNamara of the FBI’s Washington Field Office made the announcement after U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady accepted Mr. Regis’ plea.

According to court documents, Regis is a former employee of a government contractor who was assigned to the CIA between August 2006 and November 2016.  During his time at the CIA, Regis conducted unauthorized searches in classified databases and copied classified information into personal notebooks, which he removed from his workspace at the CIA and stored in his home without authorization.  When initially interviewed by federal law enforcement, Regis lied about having done so.

During a search of his home, FBI agents recovered approximately 60 notebooks containing classified information.  The classified information contained in the notebooks included information relating to highly sensitive intelligence reports, disclosure of which could cause serious damage to the national security.

Regis faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison.  Regis is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 21.  The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes.  The sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Trial Attorney Scott A. Claffee of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Danya E. Atiyeh of the Eastern District of Virginia are prosecuting this case.