Mike Pompeo’s testimony at his Senate confirmation hearing appeared aimed at reassuring staff at the agency he has been picked to lead, even at the risk of contradicting or distancing himself from some of Trump’s strongest criticism of the intelligence community.
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Pompeo said that he would “start with legal boundaries that exist today”.
Earlier in the day, as the Intelligence committee’s vice-chairman, Mark Warner, began speaking about Russia’s efforts to influence the USA election, the lights in the hearing room flickered, and then went dark, prompting nervous laughs and shuffling in the packed hearing room.
Pompeo is a three-term Republican congressman from Wichita who’s a graduate of West Point and Harvard Law.
“As the President-elect has made clear, one of my top priorities, if confirmed, is to assist in defeating ISIS”, Pompeo told lawmakers during his confirmation hearing. American intelligence agencies have since concluded emails from Podesta and the Democratic National Committee were taken by Russian hackers seeking to aid President-elect Donald Trump.
Pompeo also tried to walk a middle ground on Iran. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Pompeo, a climate change skeptic, repeatedly dodged questions about whether he would accept the assessment of the intelligence community, and shared by the Pentagon, that climate change could harm US national security by exacerbating global instability, and by sparking food, water, and refugee crises.
During the presidential campaign, Trump said he would re-establish interrogation techniques such as waterboarding.
Pompeo also previously filed a bill titled “Liberty Through Strength Act II”, which will allow the U.S. National Security Agency to have access to private information such as business and telephone call records.
“You have my full commitment on that”, he said. “You said all metadata”.
The inquiry will include holding hearings to examine Russian intelligence activity, interviews with senior officials of both the outgoing and incoming administrations and both classified and unclassified reports on the findings.
Still, Pompeo did not shy away from supporting anti-terrorism efforts that involve collecting data on Americans.
Former Sen. Bob Dole, a fellow Kansan who introduced Pompeo, said in praise of the nominee, “He understands there are no politics in the Central Intelligence Agency”.
“Senator, absolutely not”, Pompeo responded.
Pompeo said he intended no disrespect, and that privacy protections are “incredibly important”.
In reality, Pompeo will likely soon find himself running a spy agency eager to pursue its investigation of Moscow’s interference in USA politics, but working for a president who wants to put the scandal to rest.
Pompeo also faced questioning from California Democrat Kamala Harris who seemed to feel his stance against gay marriage would hamper his work to secure the nation.
“That’s not the question”, Wyden said.
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Questions about Trump’s friendly posture toward Russian Federation have deepened since the election, as he has dismissed U.S. intelligence agencies’ assertions about Russia’s role in the hacking of Democratic groups.
