President Trump’s decision to send CIA Director Gina Haspel to Turkey should not come as a surprise. It simply reflects a best use of Haspel’s experience and professional skills to understand Turkey’s investigation into the Saudi government’s murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

From the Trump administration’s perspective, it’s not enough simply to gather intelligence on what the Saudis did and what the Turks say the Saudis did. The latter concern is particularly important in the context of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s less-than-wholly-objective interests regarding the Khashoggi incident. But Haspel is best placed to address these concerns.

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