Contrary to popular belief, Donald Trump and the deep state are getting along fine. Mr Trump wants Gina Haspel, a career intelligence officer, to head the CIA. She once oversaw a “black site” where terror suspects were subjected to “enhanced interrogation”, better known as torture. That is one reason the CIA is pushing hard for her to be confirmed: her elevation would reduce the stigma of the agency’s post-9/11 activities.

Mr Trump, meanwhile, would have an intelligence chief with a record of doing what she is told. Both sides are happy. The rest of us should therefore be worried.

For all I know, Ms Haspel is a public servant of the highest probity. Efforts to depict her as villainous are likely to backfire. The truth is that we are ignorant of what she believes. In its push to secure one of its own — the first field operative to be nominated in almost 50 years — the CIA has declassified flattering material on Ms Haspel’s career. But it has ignored Senate requests to shed light on the darker parts. This includes the waterboarding sessions at the Thai site she ran, and her alleged role in the deletion of dozens of interrogation videos.