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Open Hearing to Consider the Nomination of Hon. Mike Pompeo to Be Director of the Central Intelligence Agency

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Open Hearing to Consider the Nomination of Hon. Mike Pompeo to Be Director of the Central Intelligence Agency S. HRG. 115–72 OPEN HEARING TO CONSIDER THE NOMINATION OF HON. MIKE POMPEO TO BE DIRECTOR OF THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY HEARING BEFORE THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2017 Printed for the use of the Select Committee on Intelligence ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.fdsys.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 24–744 PDF WASHINGTON : 2017 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Sep 11 2014 13:06 Sep 07, 2017 Jkt 026126 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 C:\DOCS\24744.TXT SHAUN LAP51NQ082 with DISTILLER SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE [Established by S. Res. 400, 94th Cong., 2d Sess.] RICHARD BURR, North Carolina, Chairman MARK R. WARNER, Virginia, Vice Chairman JAMES E. RISCH, Idaho DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California MARCO RUBIO, Florida RON WYDEN, Oregon SUSAN COLLINS, Maine MARTIN HEINRICH, New Mexico ROY BLUNT, Missouri ANGUS KING, Maine JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma JOE MANCHIN, West Virginia TOM COTTON, Arkansas KAMALA HARRIS, California JOHN CORNYN, Texas MITCH MCCONNELL, Kentucky, Ex Officio CHUCK SCHUMER, New York, Ex Officio JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona, Ex Officio JACK REED, Rhode Island, Ex Officio CHRIS JOYNER, Staff Director MICHAEL CASEY, Minority Staff Director DESIREE SAYLE, Chief Clerk (II) VerDate Sep 11 2014 13:06 Sep 07, 2017 Jkt 026126 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\DOCS\24744.TXT SHAUN LAP51NQ082 with DISTILLER CONTENTS JANUARY 12, 2017 OPENING STATEMENTS Burr, Hon. Richard, Chairman, a U.S. Senator from North Carolina ................ 1 Warner, Hon. Mark R., Vice Chairman, a U.S. Senator from Virginia .............. 2 WITNESSES Roberts, Hon. Pat, U.S. Senator from Kansas ...................................................... 5 Dole, Hon. Bob, former U.S. Senator from Kansas ............................................... 6 Pompeo, Hon. Mike, Nominated to be Director of the Central Intelligence Agency ................................................................................................................... 7 Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 12 SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL Questionnaire for Completion by Presidential Nominees .................................... 52 Prehearing Questions and Responses .................................................................... 67 Questions for the Record ......................................................................................... 128 (III) VerDate Sep 11 2014 13:06 Sep 07, 2017 Jkt 026126 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\DOCS\24744.TXT SHAUN LAP51NQ082 with DISTILLER VerDate Sep 11 2014 13:06 Sep 07, 2017 Jkt 026126 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\DOCS\24744.TXT SHAUN LAP51NQ082 with DISTILLER OPEN HEARING TO CONSIDER THE NOMINATION OF HON. MIKE POMPEO TO BE DIRECTOR OF THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2017 U.S. SENATE, SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE, Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:05 a.m. in Room SH–216, Hart Senate Office Building, Hon. Richard Burr (Chair- man of the Committee) presiding. Committee Members Present: Burr (presiding), Warner, Risch, Rubio, Collins, Blunt, Lankford, Cotton, Cornyn, Feinstein, Wyden, Heinrich, King, Manchin, and Harris. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. RICHARD BURR, CHAIRMAN, A U.S. SENATOR FROM NORTH CAROLINA Chairman BURR. I’d like to call this hearing to order. One procedural matter before we begin in earnest. We meet today prior to President-elect Trump’s inauguration and therefore have not yet received Representative Pompeo’s nomination to be Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Procedurally, we can- not vote on and report out the nomination until it’s received in the U.S. Senate. So today we’ll have a hearing in expectation that that nomina- tion will follow. Our goal in conducting this hearing is to enable the committee to begin consideration of Representative Pompeo’s quali- fication, to allow for thoughtful deliberation of our members. Representative Pompeo has already provided substantive written responses to more than 125 questions presented by the committee and its members. Today, of course, members will be able to ask ad- ditional questions and hear from Representative Pompeo in open and closed session. It’s my intention as soon as time allows to con- vene a meeting of the committee to vote on the nomination and to report it to the Senate floor for immediate floor vote. Now I’d like to welcome our witness today. Representative Mike Pompeo, President-elect Trump’s nominee to be the next Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Mike, congratulations on your nomination. I’d like to also welcome your wife—Susan, where are you?— Susan and your son Nick. Would you two just stand up? [Susan and Nick Pompeo stand; applause.] (1) VerDate Sep 11 2014 13:06 Sep 07, 2017 Jkt 026126 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\DOCS\24744.TXT SHAUN LAP51NQ082 with DISTILLER 2 Chairman BURR. I want to thank both of you for your support of your husband, your father, of this incredible opportunity and I think benefit to our country. I understand that both of you have been a constant source of constructive and critical counsel to Mike. You said once during a speech, Nick, you graded him with a C and, Susan, you graded him with an F for questioning during an open hearing of the events of Benghazi. For the record, that tough curve you have described in the Pompeo household has clearly served you well and likely prepared you for the challenges that lie ahead. You’ll soon be asked to lead what, Mike, what I believe to be one of our Nation’s most treasured assets during a period of profound change. The Central Intelligence Agency is one of the principal members of the United States intelligence community and is tasked with collecting foreign intelligence through human sources and by appropriate means. The CIA operates in the shadows. Its officers are often undercover and sometimes work in hostile and austere environments. It’s not simply a job for many, but a lifestyle. The clandestine nature of the Agency’s work, however, is both the greatest capability and most challenging liability since its ac- tivities are outside the public view. We address that liability by calling upon the President to nominate individuals with unwaver- ing integrity, and the Senate approves only those who we’re as- sured will lead this organization lawfully, ethically, and morally. Mike, I’ve reviewed the material provided by you prior to this confirmation hearing and have spoken with you personally. You en- rolled in the United States Military Academy at West Point as a teenager. You graduated first in your class before serving as a cav- alry officer. You went on to earn a law degree at Harvard and founded an aerospace company, where you served as CEO for more than a decade. You are in your third term representing the people from the Fourth District of Kansas and oversaw the intelligence community as a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. I believe your intellectual rigor, your honorable service and out- standing judgment make you a very natural fit to lead the CIA. I can assure you that this committee will continue to be faithful and follow its charter and conduct rigorous and real-time oversight over the CIA operations and their activities. We will ask difficult and probing questions of you, your staff, and we will expect honest, complete and timely response. The American people allow the CIA to operate in the shadows be- cause they trust oversight. I take the responsibility very seriously. I look forward to supporting your nomination and ensuring its con- sideration without delay. I want to thank you again for being here, for your years of serv- ice to your country in many different capacities, and I look forward to your testimony today. I now would like to recognize the Vice Chairman, Senator War- ner. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. MARK R. WARNER, VICE CHAIRMAN, A U.S. SENATOR FROM VIRGINIA Senator WARNER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I also would like to welcome you and congratulate you, Congressman Pompeo. I want VerDate Sep 11 2014 13:06 Sep 07, 2017 Jkt 026126 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\DOCS\24744.TXT SHAUN LAP51NQ082 with DISTILLER 3 to also just note on a personal basis, it’s great to have the former Vice Chair back here by my side, willing to kick and prod me if I get off script. Let me also echo what the Chairman says and offer congratula- tions on your impending nomination to serve as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. I’ve enjoyed our recent meetings and thank you for your honest views. If confirmed, you will be sitting at a critical intersection between intelligence and policymaking. You and I agree that politics has no place in your new line of business. Your job will be to give the President the best professional judgment of America’s intelligence experts at the CIA, even when it might be inconvenient or uncom- fortable. As the motto you will see every morning in the lobby of the CIA headquarters reminds us, your job is to search out and fol- low the truth regardless of where it may lead. Many risk their lives and toil long hours in anonymity to get that critical piece of infor- mation that could mean the difference between literally life and death. Congressman Pompeo, I will need your public assurance that you will always seek to provide unbiased, unvarnished, and timely in- telligence assessments to the President, to his Cabinet, his advi- sors, and to those of us in Congress. This intelligence must rep- resent the best judgment of the CIA, whether or not that analysis is in agreement with the views of the President or anyone else who might receive them.
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