Pompeo sworn in as CIA director despite enhanced interrogation and surveillance concerns

The eighth director of the Central Intelligence Agency is former U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo, a Kansas Republican who was sworn into office Monday night after being approved by the Senate over the objections of Democrats concerned about his views on domestic surveillance and enhanced interrogation techniques.

“Susan and I are going to miss Kansas as the place we live,” Pompeo said in an email to supporters. “But it will never cease to be the place we know as home.”

The Senate voted 66-32 to confirm Pompeo after several hours of speeches and debate. Fifty-one votes were needed for confirmation. Only one of those voting in opposition is a Republican: U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky.

“I voted against the new CIA director because I worry that his desire for security will trump his defense of liberty,” Paul wrote in a post explaining his vote.

Thirty Democrats voted against Pompeo and 14 voted in support of him. Among the Democrats supporting Pompeo were Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer of New York and U.S. Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

“While Congressman Pompeo and I disagree on many issues, I believe he can be an effective leader at the CIA,” Warner said on the Senate floor before the vote. “In our private discussions and in the open and closed hearings, he convinced me that he will follow the law banning torture.”

Among those opposing Pompeo was U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat.

“We can’t allow someone in office who will take away our privacy, our civil liberties,” Tester said.

Pompeo, a West Point valedictorian and Harvard Law graduate, impressed Republicans and placated some Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee during a confirmation hearing Jan. 12. He agreed the United States was the target of a campaign by Russia to undermine American elections and committed to delivering unbiased intelligence assessments to President Donald Trump, even if those assessments clash with Trump’s policies.

Six days later, Pompeo sent the committee his written responses to questions from several Democrats. On matters of enhanced interrogation and domestic surveillance, Pompeo indicated he could advocate for changes to current laws.

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., asked whether Pompeo would refrain from taking steps to bring back the use of waterboarding and other enhanced interrogation techniques by CIA agents. Pompeo’s response left the door open for a return to the practices.

“I will consult with experts at the Agency and at other organizations in the U.S. government on whether the Army Field Manual uniform application is an impediment to gathering vital intelligence to protect the country or whether any rewrite of the Army Field Manual is needed,” Pompeo wrote.

At his confirmation hearing, Pompeo had told Feinstein he would “absolutely not” comply with a hypothetical order from Trump to resume the use of enhanced interrogation techniques, including stress positions, forced nudity, slamming detainees into walls or slapping and hitting them. Pompeo said he couldn’t imagine he would be asked by Trump to resume the use of such techniques.

In written questions, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, asked whether Pompeo supports the resumption of bulk metadata collection criticized and reformed after leaks by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden. Pompeo has said Snowden should be executed.

“If I am confirmed,” Pompeo wrote to Wyden, “and Agency officials inform me they believe the current programs and legal framework are insufficient to protect the country, I would make appropriate recommendations for any needed changes to laws and regulations.”

Maria McFarland Sanchez-Moreno, a co-director at Human Rights Watch, urged senators to vote against Pompeo based on his written responses to Feinstein and Wyden.

“Pompeo’s failure to unequivocally disavow torture and mass surveillance, coupled with his record of advocacy for surveillance of Americans and past endorsement of the shuttered CIA torture program, make clear that he should not be running the CIA,” she said.

Feinstein voted to confirm Pompeo on Monday night, saying she had received assurance from him earlier in the day that he will not seek to implement enhanced interrogations. Wyden voted against the confirmation.

U.S. Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine, expanded on his verbal questioning of Pompeo by asking in a written question whether the congressman supports WikiLeaks. During the confirmation hearing, King referenced a tweet from Pompeo last July in which Pompeo cited WikiLeaks as proof of Democratic National Committee corruption.

“I understand the concern over the tweet’s reference to Wikileaks, given how disclosures by Wikileaks have targeted American institutions and democracy,” Pompeo wrote to King. “The tweet was sent in reference to political issues in the middle of a hard-fought campaign. Based on additional briefings and information, including the reports released by the intelligence community, I now have a much deeper understanding of Wikileaks and its harmful activities.”

King voted to confirm Pompeo on Monday night.

The Trump administration and Senate Republican leaders had hoped to confirm Pompeo on Friday, Inauguration Day, but were blocked from doing so by three Democratic senators, including Wyden. U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins, a Kansas Republican, said Senate Democrats “should drop their partisanship” and confirm Pompeo. U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, said, “Democrats are obstructing the nomination of Mike Pompeo for no good reason.”

Pompeo is the second person with ties to Wichita to head up the nation’s intelligence efforts. Robert Gates, who was born and raised in the city, served as director of national intelligence between 1991 and 1993.

Contact reporter Justin Wingerter at (785) 295-1100 or @JustinWingerter on Twitter.