Mike Pompeo, Trump's choice for CIA director, lists Russia as threat
WASHINGTON — Rep. Mike Pompeo, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to lead the CIA, listed Russia on Thursday as one of the leading threats to the United States.
Pompeo, a Kansas Republican, faced the Senate Intelligence Committee amid the continued clash between Trump and the nation’s spymasters over Russia’s interference in the presidential election.
In his opening statement, Pompeo listed Russia, behind the Islamic State, Syria and Iran, as one of the leading threats to the United States. That puts him in the mainstream of Republican thinking on Russia, and that of the national security community at large, but not necessarily on the same page as Trump.
“Russia has reasserted itself aggressively, invading and occupying Ukraine, threatening Europe, and doing nearly nothing to aid in the destruction and defeat of ISIS,” Pompeo said.
Trump accused the intelligence community of leaking a document briefed to him and President Obama that contained unsubstantiated claims about Trump’s connections to the Russian government and salacious behavior. The briefing had been about Russian attempts to influence the presidential election in his favor, but also contained the unverified claims in an appendix. James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, released a statement Wednesday night, expressed dismay that the document had been released but said saying he did not believe the leak sprung from the agencies.
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On Wednesday, Trump acknowledged for the first time that he thought Russia had been involved in hacking. But he also maintained that he could have better relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“If Putin likes Trump, I consider that an asset,” Trump said.
The ranking member of the Intelligence Committee, Democrat Mark Warner of Virginia, expressed concern that Trump's criticism of the nation's spy agencies could have a "real impact on recruitment and retention."
Trump suggested that if the information from the classified report came from one of the spy agencies, it would be “a tremendous blot” on them.
Trump went further in a tweet: “Intelligence agencies should never have allowed this fake news to ‘leak’ into the public. One last shot at me. Are we living in Nazi Germany?”
Pompeo was pressed further on Russia by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. Rubio asked if the targeting of civilians, which Russia is accused of in its bombing campaign in Syria, was a violation of the law of war. Pompeo acknowledged that it was and that decisions to conduct the raids likely occurred at the highest levels of the Russian government.
Rubio's questioning echoed his attempts on Wednesday to have Rex Tillerson, Trump's choice for secretary of State, to name Putin a war criminal. Tillerson declined to make that declaration.
Pompeo, 53, would lead the key agency in the nation’s vast intelligence community that has seen extraordinary clashes with the incoming president. Trump has derided the agencies for flawed intelligence about weapons of mass destruction that led to the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and had questioned its findings about Russia's attempts to affect the election. On Wednesday, Trump acknowledged Russia's involvement.
Last week, Clapper criticized Trump without naming him for casting doubt on intelligence findings that showed Russia interfered in the presidential election on his behalf. “There is a difference, Clapper told senators, “between skepticism and disparagement.”
Pompeo was introduced to the committee by fellow Kansas Republicans, former Sen. Bob Dole and current Sen. Pat Roberts.
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Pompeo would inherit the CIA, which along with the FBI and National Security Agency, prepared the briefing on Russian interference. That report included an appendix with the unsubstantiated information that Trump referred to on Wednesday.
A West Point graduate, Army veteran, Harvard Law alumnus and member of the House Intelligence Committee, Pompeo (pronounced Pom-PAY-oh) has been a leading conservative voice on intelligence matters. He joined Congress in 2011 after a career in the aircraft and oil industries.
In 2014, he was named to the House Select Benghazi Committee, which spent months investigating the terrorist attack on U.S. facilities in Libya on Sept. 11, 2012, in which four Americans were killed, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens. The committee disbanded in December after releasing its report, which blasted the CIA for its response to the attack and its subsequent explanations of what occurred there. Pompeo also co-authored a supplement to the report that harshly criticized Hillary Clinton, who was secretary of State at the time of the attack.
Pompeo has staked out hawkish positions in several other areas. Like Trump, he opposes closing the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba where 55 detainees remain. He also has blasted the Iranian nuclear deal and called for greater government surveillance powers, including warrantless searches.
Oregon’s Ron Wyden pressed Pompeo on what limits he would accept on collecting information on U.S. citizens.
Pompeo replied that the U.S. government should comb through information, such as social media posts, that people voluntarily share to help protect national security.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who as a naval airman was tortured in a Vietnamese prison, and the leading moral authority in the Senate on the issue, prompted Pompeo to commit to abiding by the Army's Field Manual for interrogations of terror suspects that prohibits torture. McCain pushed for that standard to be put into law after revelations that U.S. intelligence agencies used waterboarding on terror suspects after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
"Sen. McCain, I voted for that and I will," Pompeo said.
The committee scheduled a closed meeting with Pompeo for Thursday afternoon.
