"CIA director Gina Haspel has heard audio recordings that are believed to capture the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, media reports say.
They say Ms Haspel was allowed to listen to the audio during a visit to Turkey earlier this week.
Khashoggi, a US-based critic of the Saudi government, was killed during a visit to its consulate in Istanbul.
Saudi Arabia has blamed the killing on "rogue agents". The case has strained relations with the US and other allies.
Soon after the murder on 2 October, Turkish media quoted officials as saying they had audio recordings of Khashoggi's interrogation and death, but gave no details about the contents or how the audio had been obtained."BBC
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Someone asked on SST what the purpose was of DCIA's trip to Turkey. My suggestion was that she was there as another pair of eyes for Trump.
Well, pilgrims, Gina Haspel has a reputation as a hard nosed fact oriented intelligence pro. There are not a lot of those around any longer. Hiring and promoting policies over the last 30 years have changed the nature of the work force at the national level. The Cold War era IC work force was a lot like a monastic order. It was devoted to the trade of espionage and to analytic studiousness in modern scriptoria. They were intensely proud of the often elegant results of the work.
In the era of identity politics and political correctness the emphasis in hiring and firing has been on things like gender, race, sexual orientation, etc. The old breed are largely gone. "Showboats" are everywhere.
In that context Haspel stands out as an exception. Trump will listen to Haspel on this. pl
