I supervised Gina Haspel when I worked at the Central Intelligence Agency. I found her to be smart, tough and effective. Foreign liaison services who’ve worked with her uniformly walked away impressed. Out of all of the chaos coming out of the White House these days, the one bit of promising news is the nomination of Haspel as the new CIA director.

Confessing to a certain bias, Haspel’s long tenure overseas I hope will give the Trump administration an experienced, pragmatic view of the world it increasingly thinks it can do without. Locating, say, Kandahar, Afghanistan, on a map may sound like a low bar, but these days it’s enough to qualify you as an expert.

Equally important, with all the rampant partisanship in Washington, D.C., Haspel’s political neutrality and fact-based intellect will, I hope, put a brake on President Trump’s worst impulses. Not having the time for conspiracy theories and alt-right drivel may be another low bar, but there you have it.