CIA director: Agency keenly focused on nation state rivals

When foreign officials visit the CIA, they sometimes leave with a fine bottle of Kentucky bourbon, newly confirmed CIA Director Gina Haspel said Monday in her first public event in which the former undercover intelligence officer disclosed a few personal details of her life and outlined her priorities for the agency.

Returning to her alma mater at the University of Louisville, Haspel delved into some of the United States' toughest challenges around the world. The spy agency's first female director also lifted the veil behind her life, discussing her affection for Johnny Cash songs, her reading preferences when not poring through CIA briefing books and her most memorable celebrity encounter.

That would be Queen Elizabeth, and yes, the queen knew she was a CIA operative.

"The queen is extremely well-briefed," Haspel told the audience. The 61-year-old native Ashland, Kentucky, also revealed that she promotes one of the bluegrass state's most famous products bourbon when meeting top-ranking foreign officials.

"Among my greatest pleasures as director are my relationships with foreign counterparts who come to visit," Haspel said. "And I made it a tradition that when ... foreign heads of service visit Langley, Virginia, and sit with me in my office, I send them away with a bottle of very fine Kentucky bourbon. And we are moving through a number so far."
"Groups such as the so-called Islamic State and al-Qaida remain squarely in our sights, but we are sharpening our focus on nation state adversaries."
On North Korea, Haspel said she thinks Pyongyang views its nuclear weapons program as leverage and a key to the survival of its government. "I don't think that they want to give it up easily," Haspel said shortly before Trump said that a second summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un was likely to occur "quite soon."