More than 70 former CIA officers penned a short letter to lawmakers endorsing Gina Haspel to lead the spy agency, urging "swift Senate approval," The Cipher Brief reported.
In the four-paragraph letter obtained by TCB, 72 former CIA officers pledged support for Haspel's confirmation.
"When someone rises through the bureaucracy, it is important to take their measure from those who have served closely with them - their peers," the letter reads, acknowledging that Haspel is the first "CIA career clandestine service officer to be nominated since Richard Helms in the 1960s and William Colby in the 1970s."
"The undersigned represent an array of former agency officers who have served with Gina either in the foreign field or in CIA headquarters," the letter reads.
"In her, we saw the image of what we want a peer and leader to be: someone who … commits to the highest standards of conduct and ethical behavior, and a bold but pragmatic decision-maker who places the interests of our nation above personal advancement or petty politics."
Fifty retired Intelligence Community operators also threw their support behind Haspel last month in a letter to Senate lawmakers.
However, this letter surfaced about the same time as another that was signed by nearly 100 former ambassadors opposing her confirmation.
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