This is one hour and 10 minutes. [applause] thank you. We are delighted to have you here. So ive standing room only said lets get going. The directors character, he is always at it. When we have a defense like this, we start with a safety announcement. ,m responsible for your safety so follow my instructions of i ask you to do anything. Im not worried about the wreck about the director, he has guys with guns. If i have to ask you to leave the room, the exits are behind us. The stairs going down or a twoyear. , wille to lefthand turns go over to the courtyard of national geographic, i will order ice cream and we will sing a song of praise for our salvation. [laughter] just follow me if i have asked you to do something. We are honored that director pompeo agree to be here. Said he people sent was going to be here, i was like, what the hell. It is an enormous opportunity to hear the director. We are very fortunate as a country that director pompeo is willing to serve at this time. His life has been about service. He was the highest ranking cadet at west point when he graduated , and his entire career has been about service. He has been in and out of government and the private sector. Fortunately for us, he is willing to help us with being director of the cia. Please welcome director pompeo. [applause] director pompeo good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for coming. I did take this place, it is special. I want to thank you for hosting me today. I am honored to make one of the first public remarks i have made in over 10 weeks as director of the cia. 10 weeks, i have it all figured out. [laughter] director pompeo we have bill webster here. Thank you for being here. [applause] it is an honor to be here and i am a little bit nervous. I thought it would start by telling you a story. Bright,story about a welleducated young man. He was described as industrious, intelligent, and likeable, if inclined toward impulsiveness and impatience. At some point, he became disillusioned with intelligence work and angry at his government. He left the government and decided to devote himself to what he regarded as public advocacy, exposing the Intelligence Officers and operations he had sworn to keep secret. He appealed to Agency Employees to send him leads, tips and suggestions. He wrote in a widely circulated bulletin, we are particularly anxious to receive, anonymously if you desire, copies of Us Diplomatic lists and us embassy staff. That man was philip agee, one of the founding members of the magazine counterspy, which in its first issue in 1973 called for the exposure of cia undercover operatives overseas. In its september 1974 issue, counterspy publicly identified Richard Welch as the cia chief of station in athens. Later, richards home address and phone number were outed in the press in greece. In december 1975, richard and his wife were returning home from a Christmas Party in athens. When he got out of his car to open the gate in front of his house, Richard Welch was assassinated by a greek terrorist cell. At the time of his death, richard was the highestranking cia officer killed in the line of duty. Richard led a rich and honorable life, one that is celebrated with a star on the agencys memorial wall. He is buried at Arlington National cemetery and remains dearly remembered by his family and colleagues. Meanwhile, agee propped up his dwindling celebrity with an occasional stunt, including a playboy interview. He eventually settled down as the privileged guest of an authoritarian regime, one that would have put him in front of a firing squad without a Second Thought had he betrayed their secrets as he betrayed ours. Today, there are still plenty of philip agees in the world, and the harm the inflict on u. S. Institutions and personnel is just as serious today as it was back then. They dont all come from the Intelligence Community, share the same background, or use precisely the same tactics as agee, but they are soulmates. Like him, they choose to see themselves in a romantic light, as heroes above the law, saviors of our free and open society. They cling to this fiction, even though their disclosures often inflict irreparable harm on both individuals and democratic governments, pleasing despots along the way. The one thing they dont share with agee is the need for a publisher. All they require now is a smart phone and internet access. In todays digital environment, they can disseminate stolen u. S. Secrets instantly around the globe to terrorists, dictators, hackers, and anyone else seeking to do us harm. Our nations first line of defense against complicated and fastmoving threats like these is the u. S. Intelligence community. And feel deeply privileged frankly still a bit amazed that as cia director, i get to be a part of this great group of men and women. Im the son of a machinist from orange county, california. I had never been east of the mississippi until college, spending most of my summers working on the family farm in winfield, kansas. To be entrusted with leading the greatest Intelligence Organization in the world is something that i still cant wrap my head around. And just as i did at west point, i feel that i stand on the shoulders of giants, atop a long tradition of courage, ingenuity, and dedication. After i was nominated for this post by President Trump, i talked with nearly every living director. They spoke of the need to call things as you see them, and of the apolitical nature of the job. Above all, they spoke of their admiration and respect for our workforce. From what ive seen so far, they were spot on in their assessment. I am today surrounded by talented and committed patriots. These are men and women who signed up for a life of discretion and impact, for a career in service to their country. Theseicers like me officers like me have sworn an oath to uphold the constitution. They have signed secrecy agreements. They quietly go about their work and try not to get too worked up over the headlines, including the fanciful notion that they spy on their fellow citizens via microwave ovens. But they are not at liberty to stand up to these false narratives and explain our mission to the American People. Fortunately, i am. In my first meeting with cias workforce, i promised that i would serve them and the American People, both at home and abroad, with the same passion and vigor that i displayed as a tank platoon leader in the army, a Business Owner in kansas, and a congressman. That is the reason i chose to speak here today. As a policy, we at cia do not comment on the accuracy of purported intelligence documents posted online. In keeping with that policy, i will not specifically comment on the authenticity or provenance of recent disclosures. But the false narratives that increasingly define our Public Discourse cannot be ignored. There are fictions out there that demean and distort the work and achievements of the cia and Intelligence Community more broadly. And in the absence of a vocal voices, onesse that proclaim treason to be public advocacy, gain a gravity they do not deserve. It is time to call these voices out. The men and women of cia deserve a real defense, as does our nation. I intend to do that. First and foremost, we are an Intelligence Organization that engages in foreign espionage. We steal secrets from foreign adversaries, hostile entities, and terrorist organizations. We are proud of it. We analyze this intelligence so that our government can better understand the adversaries we face in a challenging and dangerous world. We make no apologies for doing that. Its hard stuff and we go at it hard. Because when it comes to overseas threats, cia is aggressive in our pursuit of the information we need to help safeguard our country. We utilize our whole toolkit, fully employing the authorities and capabilities that congress, the courts, and the executive branch have deemed lawful and appropriate, and consistent with our american ideals. We do these things because its our job. Its what we signed up to do. And if we didnt, wed have a tough time justifying our budget to the american taxpayer. As a ceo of a Security Research firm recently noted, cia appears to be doing exactly what we pay them to do, exploit specific targets with limited attacks to support our national interest. Our mission is simple in concept yet difficult in practice. We work to provide the best information possible to the president and his administration so that they can advance our National Interests and protect our country. It is a mission that cia has carried out for years, quietly and effectively. Our accomplishments often remain classified, but a few special ones are known to the world. The cia is a crucial player in the Global Campaign against Nuclear Proliferation and continue to be today. Weve helped unravel the Nuclear Smuggling network used by a. Q. Khan, assisted in exposing a covert Nuclear Facility in syria, and gathered intelligence with the help of our liaison partners that persuaded libya to abandon its Nuclear Program. Cia has also been at the cutting edge of incredible technological innovation throughout our history. Reflect efforts that allowed us to surveil activities in rival states that were otherwise closed to us. Weve pushed back the boundaries of the possible in ways that have benefitted both the security and welfare of the american public. More recently, cia investment in a Technology Venture in 2003 led to the development of what we know today as google earth. My first few months on the job have only reaffirmed for me that this innovative spirit is very much alive and well. So id now like to make clear what cia doesnt do. We are a foreign intelligence agency. We focus on collecting information about foreign governments, foreign terrorist organizations and the like, not americans. A number of specific rules keep us centered on that mission and protect the privacy of our fellow americans. To take just one important example, cia is legally prohibited from spying on people through electronic surveillance in the United States. Were not tapping anyones phone in wichita. I know there will always be skeptics. We need to build trust with them. But i also know firsthand, from what i saw as a member of a Congressional Oversight Committee and from what i see now as director, that cia takes its legal restrictions and responsibilities with the utmost seriousness. We have stringent regulations, an engaged and Robust Office of the general counsel, and an empowered and independent office of Inspector General to make sure of that. Moreover, regardless of what you see on the silver screen, we do not pursue covert action on a whim without approval or accountability. There is a comprehensive process that starts with the president and consists of many levels of legal and policy review and policy review. Let me assure you, when it comes to covert action, there is oversight and accountability every step of the way. I inherited an agency that has a deep respect for the rule of law and for the constitution. Fiber ofedded in the the people at the cia. Despite fictional depictions meant to sell books or boxoffice tickets, we are not an untethered or rogue agency. So yes, while we have some truly awesome capabilities at our disposal, our officers do not operate in areas or against targets that are rightfully and legally offlimits to us. At our core, we are an organization committed to uncovering the truth and getting it right. We devote ourselves to protecting our trade. We work hard to maintain truly global coverage. We spend hours upon hours collecting information, and poring over reports and data. We also admit to making mistakes. In fact, because cia is accountable to the free and open society we help defend, the times in which we have failed to live up to the high standards our fellow citizens have been catalogued over the years, even by our own government. These mistakes are public, to an extent that i doubt any other nation could ever match. But it is always our intention and duty to get it right. Reasons is one of the why we at cia find the celebration of entities like wikileaks to be both perplexing and deeply troubling. Because while we do our best to quietly collect information on those who pose very real threats to our country, individuals such as Julian Assange and Edward Snowden seek to use that information to make a name for themselves. As long as they make a splash, they care nothing about the lives they put at risk or the damage they cause to national security. Wikileaks walks like a Hostile Intelligence Service and talks like a Hostile Intelligence Service. It has encouraged its followers to find jobs at cia in order to obtain intelligence. It directed Chelsea Manning in her theft of specific secret information. And it overwhelmingly focuses on the United States, while seeking support from antidemocratic countries and organizations. It is time to call out wikileaks for what it really is, a nonstate Hostile Intelligence Service often abetted by state actors like russia. In january of this year, our Intelligence Community determined that Russian Military military intelligence had used wikileaks to release data of us victims that the gru had obtained through Cyber Operations against the Democratic National committee. And the report also found that russias primary propaganda outlet, rt, has actively collaborated with wikileaks. Now, for those of you who read the editorial page of the and i have ast, feeling that many of you do, yesterday you would have seen a piece of sophistry penned by mr. Assange. You would have read a convoluted mass of words wherein assange compared himself to thomas jefferson, dwight eisenhower, and the pulitzer prizewinning work of legitimate news organizations such as New York Times and the washington post. One can only imagine the absurd comparisons that the original draft contained. Assange claims to harbor an overwhelming admiration for both america and the idea of america. But i assure you that this man knows nothing of america and our ideals. He knows nothing of our third president , whose clarion call for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness continue to inspire us and the world. And he knows nothing of our 34th president , a hero from my very own kansas, who helped to liberate europe from fascists and guided america through the early years of the cold war. No, i am quite confident that had assange been around in the 1930s and 1940s and 1950s, he would have found himself on the wrong side of history. We know this because assange and his ilk make common cause with dictators today. Yes, they try unsuccessfully to cloak themselves and their actions in the language of liberty and privacy, but in reality, they champion nothing but their own celebrity. Their currency is click bait. Their moral compass, nonexistent. Their mission, personal selfaggrandizement through the destruction of western values. They do not care about the causes and people they claim to represent. If they did, they would focus instead on the autocratic regimes in this world that actually suppress free speech and dissent. Instead, they choose to exploit the legitimate secrets of democratic governments, which has, so far, proven to be a much safer approach than provoking a tyrant. Clearly, these individuals are not especially burdened by conscience. We know this, for example, because assange has been more than cavalier in disclosing the personal information of scores of innocent citizens around the globe. We know this because the damage they have done to the security and safety of the free world is tangible. The examples are numerous. When snowden absconded to the comfortable clutches of russian intelligence, his treachery directly harmed a wide range of u. S. Intelligence and military operations. Despite what he claims, he is no whistleblower. True whistleblowers use the wellestablished and discreet processes in place to voice grievances, they do not put american lives at risk. In fact, a colleague of ours at nsa recently explained that more than a thousand four and targets, people, groups and organizations, more than a thousand of them changed or tried to change how they communicated as a result of the snowden disclosures. That number is staggering. And the bottom line is that it became harder for us in the Intelligence Community to keep americans safe. It became harder to monitor the communications of terrorist organizations that are bent on bringing bloodshed to our shores. Snowdens disclosures helped these groups find ways to hide themselves in the crowded digital forest. Even in those cases where we were able to regain our ability to collect, the damage was already done. We work in a business with budgetary and time constraints. The effort to get back access that we previously possessed meant that we had less time to look for new threats. As for assange, his actions have attracted a devoted following among some of our most determined enemies. Following a recent wikileaks disclosure, and al qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula member posted a comment online thanking wikileaks for providing a means to fight america in a way that aqap had not previously envisioned. Aqap represents one of the most serious threats to our country and the world. It is a group that is devoted not only to bringing down civilian passenger planes, but our way of life as well. That assange is the darling of terrorists is nothing short of reprehensible. Have no doubt that the disclosures in recent years oured harm, great, to nations security, and they will continue to do so over the long term. They also threaten the trust weve developed with our foreign partners when trust is a crucial currency among allies. They risk damaging morale for the good officers of the Intelligence Community who take the high road every day. And i cant stress enough how these disclosures have severely hindered our ability to keep all you all safe. No, Julian Assange and his kind are not the slightest bit interested in improving Civil Liberties or enhancing personal freedom. They have pretended that americas First Amendment freedoms shield them from justice. They may have believed that, but they are wrong. Assange is a narcissist who has created nothing of value. He relies on the dirty work of others to make himself famous. He is a fraud, a coward hiding behind a screen. And in kansas, we know something about wizards hiding behind screens. But im not the only one who knows what assange really is. Even those who often benefit from assanges leaks have called him out for his overblown statements. The intercept, which in the past has gleefully reported on unauthorized disclosures, accused wikileaks in late march of stretching the facts in its comments about the cia. In the same article, the intercept added that the documents were not worth the concern wikileaks generated by its public comments. So we all face a crystal crucial question what can we do about this . What can and should cia, the United States, and our allies do about the unprecedented challenge posed by these hostile nonstate intelligence agencies . There is no quick fix, no foolproof, instant cure, but there are steps that we can take to undercut the danger. First, we called out those who grant a platform to these leakers and socalled transparency activists. We know the danger that assange and his notsomerry band of brothers pose to democracies around the world. Ignorance or misplaced idealism is no longer an acceptable excuse for lionizing these demons. Second, there are steps that we have to take it home. In fact, this is a process weve already started. Weve got to strengthen our own systems, weve got to improve internal mechanisms that help us in our counterintelligence mission. All of us in the ic had a wakeup call after snowdens treachery. Unfortunately, the threat has not abated. The steps we take cant be static. Our approach to security has to be constantly evolving and we will. We need to be as clever and innovative as the enemies we face because they wont relent, and neither will we. We can never truly eliminate the threat but we can mitigate and manage it. This depends on the fence in depth. It depends on a fundamental change in how we address digital problems, understanding that best practices have to evolve in real time. We have to recognize that we can no longer allow assange and his colleagues the latitude to use free speech values against us. To give them the space to crush us with misappropriated secrets is a perversion of what our great constitution stands for. It ends now. And finally, and perhaps most importantly, we need to deepen the trust between the Intelligence Community and the aim to protect. At cia, i can assure you that we are committed to earning that trust every day. We know we can never take it for granted. We must continue to be as open as possible with the American People. As cia director, it is my sworn duty to uphold the constitution and defend national security. And as somebody who practiced law, built businesses, and ran for Public Office to represent my neighbors and fellow citizens, i understand why nobody should have to blindly place their trust in government. Granted, the intelligence arena can never be as transparent as other parts of government. Secrecy is essential to the task we undertake, but we can do better than we have. Even if we cant share everything with the American People, we can share it with the president they elected and with the congress that oversees our work. Having served on the committee myself, i am a cia director who fully understands the imperative of oversight. Doing right by the American People is as important to me as carrying out our agencys mission. I will hold our officers to the same standard. The men and women i work with at langley are patriots, and i am honored to lead them. They have my trust. They have my faith. And as long as im lucky enough to have the best job in the world, i promise you that cia will be tireless in our mission to keep america safe. Thank you all very much. [applause] thank you for saying what we all wanted to hear. I forgot to say this at the beginning, under secretaries or zirate will be taking questions. Ds and we will be collecting them. Thank you, director. Lets not hold this up like penalty cards, ok . [laughter] bewhat a privilege it is to it was a privilege for me to sit on your Transition Team and help you as much as i could. Full disclosure, im a fan of the director. Im not here as an unbiased journalist. I want to thank you all for attending. Just to go through the ground rules again, will have about a half hour of discussion, then by 4 00, please have your questions submitted, that i will take those questions and ask the director. At the end of 4 30, i ask that you remain seated or standing and the director can move out safely and we will conclude the event. Take it. ,m the Senior Adviser here director pompeo, quite a declaration on your part in terms of not only an indictment of wikileaks but also a declaration that there are nonstate Intelligence Services actively working against u. S. Interests and working with our adversaries potentially. In your first remarks, why talk about this . Are your worried this is the new phase of counterintelligence work . Are you worry the russians are continuing to exploit wikileaks . That theorried iranians or North Koreans are beginning to look at this as an effective model . Why focus on this issue . I had intended to make my remarks sometime in june of 2019. Having now had the chance to observe the risk that is presented by these hostile intelligence agencies, i want to make sure the American People understood the threat they pose to us. They may be small, and i mention one particular character a few times, but is much bigger, broader and deeper than that. I think the u. S. Government has not done nearly enough to protect our nation, our cyber infrastructure, all the risk from those threats. We spent a lot of time looking at hard targets but now have a new threat sitting out there which behaves in a slightly different way but has as its motive the destruction of america in the same way those countries do. Model thatow found a says we will actively go out and work, we will recruit, do all the things intelligence agencies that are hostile to us do and align ourselves with other nations take that may have a vested interest in that. Its dangerous and i want to make sure clearly articulate that we have an obligation and im confident this administration will pursue them with great vigor. We can do the topic of the day, can do your top 10 threat list. Lets do a little bit of a mix of all of that. I know there is a lot of interest in the room on a host of topics. Lets take the idea of nonstate actors. You mentioned the al qaeda affiliate in human learning from wikileaks. What are you most worried about in terms of terrorist adaptations and what can you tell us about what comes next . Were preparing to attack the capital in syria, weve seen the attacks in europe. Most recently in germany, saint eaters bird, stockholm, where is the Terror Threat going and what is our strategy to go after it . The threat from radical islamic terrorism is real and continuing and will be around for as long as im in this position. Weve made Great Strides in iraq, taking were making Great Strides in syria collectively, not just the United States, but this threat continues to change, to transmogrify and ways that are difficult. Their cybert in operations, their capacity to inspire threats here inside her own country. We spend a lot of resources attacking the problem and it made great progress in the 15 or 9 11. Rs since there is no doubt about that. We have the capacity to identify these in many instances. You have to achieve perfection to keep people safe and that is an enormously challenging goal. What comes after, where the terrorists will go. Earlyrned from london this morning and our european colleagues are worried about where these folks go. They are much closer to them and easier to place travel. Progress but the fight is continual. Do we have the allies on the ground to do this work . There is the relevant forced to take on isis and deal with the reconstruction afterward, what happens in iraq, do we have the partnerships that you as the cia director need and also the country needs to deal with these nonstate actors . I tend not to focus just on isis. They had a good run, almost up. Nd through baghdad and erbil to actively engage with everyone and i think we do. We have a good set of partners. This will provide an important bulwark for us as we begin to fight what will be the next phase against al qaeda and isis and the taliban in the places we find them. Your first trip abroad was to turkey and to the goal. Why did you go there first, and what did you hear . We have important intelligence partners there who help america each and every day stay safe and i want to thank them for that. I want to talk to them about the wet that i expect more, that need increased assistance and those pockets that remain in those places that are funding care or educating terrorists in their mosques, i wanted them to know that this administration wanted them to think about that differently and to be True Partners in this defeat terrorism in the middle east. I hadgreat reception, good conversations with my colleagues from the gulf states who redouble their commitment to helping United States achieve what is in all of our joint best interest. Are you worried about developments in turkey . Obviously they have a very big election there this coming weekend. What worries you in turkey . They are a nato partner and we need them to behave as such. You think about issues related they franklyce, have done better work as of late and preventing foreign terrorist from going to syria, although its a lot less exciting to go there these days than it was for a couple of years. They let us participate in exercises that are very important but we need them to be a fullfledged partner against this threat. With respect to gulf partners, i know others who have relationships and contacts in the gulf who have been thirsting for a resurgence of American Leadership and strength in the region. Is that something you heard in the gulf when you met with your partners there . Yes. I would not confined into the gulf. One thing that surprised me in my new role as how much time i spend with our liaison partners. It consumes a good deal of my day off and and what they all are demanding is American Leadership. They are not looking for the 82nd airborne or for us to invest enormous amounts of american treasure but its often the case that in a dangerous world america is the only country that can present the leadership that can solve many problems and they are thirsty for that. I fully expect this ministration can deliver that leadership. Because into syria some ways, syria represent a change perhaps in the Foreign Policy of the administration. You may argue differently but at least the perception of a change and certainly the perception that the u. S. Is willing to enforce redlines in the context of these chemical weapons. Going to ask you a couple of questions but one interesting question that has not been commented on too much is this be an rapidity of the assessments that were made, with so much baggage with the Intel Community around past years and they need to get the assessments right, how is this done . Take us behind the scenes around the intel assessments and how that plays into the decisionmaking of this administration. Where to begin. Minute imagine the first the question was what happened. To the extent we know it happened, who did it, can we prove that, how confident are we in the scope and nature of what they undertook and under Whose Authority they took it. I may have missed a question but there were series of questions that came to the Intelligence Community. The remarkable order, one of the most impressive things about the place i were, and we were able to develop several hypotheses about that and develop patterns that either supported or suggested the hypothesis wasnt right. We were in short order able to deliver a high confidence assessment that it was the Syrian Regime that had launched Chemical Attacks against its own people. Team. , our not just the cia, the entire Intelligence Committee was good and fast and we challenged ourselves. I can assure you we were challenged by the president and his team. We want to make sure we had it right. When theot much like president looks at you and says, are you sure . Hes contemplating an action based on the analysis your organization has provided, and we got it right and im proud of the work the team get to have the president have the opportunity to make a good decision about what he ought to do in the face of the atrocity that took lace. What do you make of the russian disputation of those conclusions . Bashar alassad calling this a fabrication, the entire event. Its a battle of legitimacy and prove. How do you deal with that . Challenges, things we were able to use to form the basis of our conclusion that we cannot reveal. That is always tricky, but weve done our best and i think over time we can reveal a bit more. Everyone saw the opensource photos, so we had reality on our side. Russia is on their sixth or seventh story now. None of which have an ounce of truth to them. For anyone who for a moment inc. s this is a credible man, i will remind you what he said about the airplane that was shot down. Look at what he said about the fact that there were no little green men in ukraine, and he later said himself that in fact it was his team. I think to this day he continues to claim there are no russians in eastern ukraine. This is a man for whom veracity does not translate into english. To rethink the russians knew about the chemical attack or were complicit in it . I dont have much to add to that today. One more question on russia and syria. Do you think the russians feel cornered at this point . Are you assessing that the russians are more likely to lash out or is this a moment of opportunity for diplomacy given what is happened . We presented the president alternative scenarios for how life parties might respond, the Syrian Chemical Weapons program more particularly, what other theres folks might take in syria. I dont know what the russians will conclude. Ive had a chance to see a little bit about how the meetings with their in russia yesterday. I certainly hope its the case restthe Russians Join the of the World Community in condemning the attacks that took place there. We havent seen that yet, but at the cia director, one has to live in hope. You mentioned iran, obviously a player in the syrian context but more broadly concerning the United States. When you were a congressman, you talked critically during her confirmation hearings about moving away from the role of being critical of the war as an assessor of whether or not iran was complying with the terms of the new year deal. What is your sense of those of that, is a complying with the terms of the nuclear deal, and how do you see the iranian threat on a regional or global basis . I dont want to say much about their compliance with the agreement. I will present that to the president and let him communicate that. You should know we are engaged in a lot of work to assist the president and make sure he as an unders ending of where the iranians are complying and where they might not . Whatould go back and read it talks about the terms of declared facilities and undeclared facilities and how will haves the iaea to each of those distinct groups. With respect to the iranians, they are on the march, whether its you increase capacity to from has the law the work theyve done to support the huthis, to fire missiles against the saudis. The list of transgressions has increased her magically since the date was signed. Next do you see the iranians trying to use nonstate proxies as a force of influence . Certainly, in each of those places. What do we do to push back or to deal with that . Making sure we understand we have to have our partners be enormous assets in assisting us in doing that whether its the work they can do in certain places that israel can help us, the places the other gulf states can provide assistance. Assistance think of they think of if they can put a battalion or two in the real. Greatare nations with capacity to reach into places that america cannot always reach. We have other allies, the europeans for whom the threat from iran is great and im confident they can assist us as well. I would argue that Something Like the activities taken last week in syria would have to have been noticed by the iranians. Very good. Partytalk about another that map paid attention to that, north korea. I want to clean that up a little bit. But not much. I may double down into trouble. What i mean by that is, this was the decisionmaking process that thoughtful, and truly based on a factual understanding of the geostrategic importance of the things facing our nation today. We had someone by late the chemical weapons treaty and this was not insignificant. I think the iranians ought to take note of the fact that this administration is prepared to engage in activities that are different from what america has been doing the past few years. How much more time do we have . Honest, the decisionmaking process takes a little bit. It took the Intelligence Committee a little bit to develop this assessment. Thats a little too cute. Thatnk this was something we worked as quickly as we could to respond in a way that was connected to the threat that had been presented both in the timing and the target selection. Were all intrinsically connected to the threat were attempting to push back against. Shifting to north korea, the administration has talked about mr. Chatterjee strategy of strategic patience being over. Continue development of the Nuclear Program, the potential of another nuclear test based on the anniversary of the founder of north koreas birthday. What concerns you most about north korea and why has that become such a hot button central issue for the administration . Its just progress, multiple administrations of try to do with the threat of an intercontinental ballistic assile capable of putting Nuclear Warhead into the United States and were simply closer now than we have ever been at any time in north koreas history. If you said whats different and unique and new, maybe nothing other than each step along the way, each effort, as the increases and the capacity to deliver that increases and draws closer, it reduces the option set to prevented and makes more likely that you get a bad decision from the leader of north korea. Intent . Largely about were witnessing capability. What concerns you about toelligence gaps as you try provide the best intelligence to the president . At dont want to speak about that Pacific League but i spent a lot of time worrying about exactly that. Will provide really good, sound information to the president but i worry every day about something we didnt have access to, some pocket we did not go pick. Its that we dont have a complete enough understanding of all thats taking place and i would limit that to north korea. I would put that in all the activities we undertake. The israelis talked about this in the context of the Iranian Nuclear program. They talked about a zone of theyity with concerns would reach a degree of capability at a point in which nothing could be done about the program. Are we reaching a zone of immunity with respect to north korea . To all keep in mind as an intelligence matter, we understand this is not only a nuclear threat. We might have a nation that developed an intercontinental beenstic missile that has developed in a way that could deliver nuclear weapons. Were talking about it pretty significant military that can do enormous harm to a major city in the world is not very far off. Its a very complex problem. But a hard nut to crack its fallen to us that were at a time when they are close and President Trump is that clearly we have an obligation to prevent that from occurring. This is a final call for questions, by the way. Ask a series of three questions that are sort of washington centric. First, i just came from a panel earlier today talking about tension between the white house and the Intelligence Community and where that is going. Youve obviously been an important bridge and a leader and trusted member of the white house team. In the early days of the administration. How do you describe where the relationship is between the white house and the Intelligence Community . Its fantastic. Dont laugh, i mean that. I can only give you my observations. This morning i was with the president giving him his daily brief. When i am out of town my deputy is there, the Vice President is there almost every day. There are they are voracious consumers of the product we develop. They ask hard questions. We get lots of hard questions about the product how we sourced the product. Its if it is completely appropriate. I just left a gap in where their activities underway but almost all of them hinge on our capacity to deliver to the president the intelligence he needs. We do our best to deliver it. The relationship is, in my sense, fantastic, the word i use, because the president is prepared to hear things that run counter to the hypothesis here that happens to me, too. If i ask really hard questions, we see that and we deliver to him each day our best analysis, what he is most interested in everyday and the things we think he needs to know. Mr. Zarate there is a lot of concern information about how we consume information in this elect more visual information . Have you adapted the way he consumes information . Director pompeo this issue consumes washington, to. It will surprise anyone that after my nomination i spent time trying to understand how you deliver that product. The president is our first customer, but we deliver information to the department of defense every day, among others. There is a broad audience. My reading made it clear to me that every individual has coumed their information a different way and take it at different times, with different durations with less or more consistency that other president s. I guess i will say this. We deliver the president his problem, he consumes it. There have been days i thought we were there and are were surprised sometimes we only need a few minutes, and sometimes we need a great deal of the president times and each casey has permitted myself and all of the Intelligence Community has the window that we work able to help him understand what we thought would be very important to him. Mr. Zarate you mentioned how do you see that relationship . Director pompeo the acting director was happy i think. I think the relationship will be great. We checked plenty to do, different spaces, different domains. I am thrilled to have him aboard beginning to help to make sure that agencies are delivering a comprehensive product through the president. A comprehensive product that makes sense for the president. Mr. Zarate before we turn to other questions, im a positive note. On a positive note. Cia obviously presents information about threats, analysis on Chemical Attacks, it presents potential opportunities. Where do you see potential opportunities for u. S. National security moving forward . Where are some opportunities that you and the agencies have looked at and maybe even brief the president about . Director pompeo two of along with general kelly, we presented some options were we think we can do some good work in mexico and central america. Not a lot of resources but a lot of for it focus to do good there. I think we are going to head down that path. Real opportunities in africa as well, places where, along with our partners begin to develop a set of relationship, there is big counterterrorisms out there. I think we if we present a more organized solution, i am hopeful. I am hopeful to about some of the larger threats with china and russia, we can get to a place where we can find places where we are not constantly in conflict. I think there are a handful of those. Mr. Zarate do you think there is hope that the chinese will give influence to the North Koreans to slow or suspend their Nuclear Program . Director pompeo i am counting on it. Mr. Zarate im ready for the question. Thank you. Let me not only thank the transnational threat project late , judge webster is the chair of the Steering Committee and now run by tom sanderson. They do remarkable work. I was part of a threeyear study with tom and his team, looking at the evolution of. I want to thank you, tom, for hosting. Russia. As investigations proceed, this person is curious, what are the big upstanding russians for you . What would you look to know that you dont . Is there any evidence that russia continues to try to interfere or use active measures to interfere in the u. S. Democratic process. Director pompeo i dont have any comment on the investigations. They will run their course. We will do our duty and provide we will give information they need to they can conduct their investigations. It will continue, it has been going on for decades. This is not a new problem. I was in europe this weekend, and they are very worried about it. It is not imaginary, it is. It will take an anonymous amount of creativity. With respect to the measures, it is harder in a democracy. There are important and tricky issues to push back against the information wars. We have to redouble our efforts to do so. We have to preserve the american democracy against this threat. It poses a real risk to our democratic values. Our allies are worried about it. Mr. Zarate i have to hear bureaucratic questions, one relates to whether or not there is a plan to restructure the Intelligence Community. As reports indicated, the white house had hoped to do. Related to that, director brennan has launched a large reorganization of the cia and it took the operational focus of away from the agency. Do you plan to stand by the reorganization or go back to the more traditional . Director pompeo im not going to comment on the second one. I will comment this way rinses theith respect to transition. I did this twice when i run small businesses. I did things like modernization. In either case, did we nailed did we get it right the first time . We tweaked it and make it better. In some cases we didnt get it right the second time either. These are continuing processes. Organizational structure changes to meet the evolving set of threats. I intend to make the agency able to take those threats. With that to the structure of dni, i have been i wrote about this, i have stated that now 10 years plus from the creation of the structure it is worthy of it there of a review. I would welcome that kind of review, to make sure we have it right. I want the decade scrubbed, it seems to me like a useful undertaking. We will see. Mr. Zarate this is a related question. It is about the cia directly. In the changing global threat environment, what will the agency prioritize in attracting the next generation of cia intelligence officials . Director pompeo i am looking for some brave young men and women who want to go do cool stuff. This agency has a fabulous history, remarkable people. Those are the kind of people we are looking for. People who are willing to sacrifice an enormous amount of their life to do hard things on behalf of the American People. We will find them and take them from wherever we can peer we need to make sure that the languages, from a cultural context, including machine language, so we have the capacity to do some of the things. We have to be cutting edge with respect to our technology as well. Willing to work her heart to work very hard. Mr. Zarate related to your marks to your remarks nonstate actors playing a bigger interest, we talk about the negative side of the ledger. Your remarks touched on it. We talk about terrorists, hackers, but there are also cap ethical ethical hackers. What is your view of the rule base of the role of nonstate actors. What are you looking for both internal there is an external question as well. Director pompeo i havent given much thought to that in the cyber realm. It is the case today that we have great partners who are nonstate actors who are helping america do good things in places all around the world. I have a question a week or 10 days ago i was asked about something a world leader had said that was clearly falls. I was asked what are you doing to disprove that . Is was a journalist. And i said tell me what you are doing to disprove it. You are the factfinders. We hear from journalists all over the world. I am hopeful we will get some of the truth telling from some of these people. Whether it is our own government, but others around the world who are saying things that are just all fullfalse. Mr. Zarate let me ask this one. What if any effort will be made to collect more intel Money Laundering . Director pompeo always more to do. On with our partners at the treasury and other places, too. It will continue to be important. There is always a cyber element and a banking comment to this and almost human as well as human intelligence, so you can get to that electronic solution. It is critical that we get that right so that we can track the money flow around the world as well. As a result of that make good decisions about networks, about sanctions and all of the other tools that the president has. Mr. Zarate let me combine a couple more of these questions. The ideology of radical islam, the first question is is there a Clear Strategy for dismantling the ideas of radical islam is the question. And what can the cia do to mitigate recruitment of americans online to commit terrorist acts . Director pompeo i dont have much to say about the first one. It is certainly an aura but not at the center of the mission of the agency that i run. With respect to the second part of that, recruitment online, enormous amount of resources are brought to bear. I remember three years ago, almost four years ago there was a man in wichita, kansas, who try to blow up the airport and government close. Through the great work of a number of elements in our Intelligence Community he was boiled at the airport gate. They recruited on line. An aircraft worker who one might not think terrorists got online. He made an effort to blow up a. We have a lot of work to do to make sure we are ahead of the game. Far too complex a question for today, but the intelligence we get is harder as the encryption improves come up making our collection challenges more difficult than they were the day before the encryption to waste. Took place. We have an obligation to make sure we dont lose access to those foreign terrorists, and the information he are communicating. Mr. Zarate let me ask you a question about the future of intelligence as well as technology. One asks what is your plan to innovate and adapt to future threats as Technology Changes faster than governance, policy and apps. And the second part is giving a statements today about the cia needs to be as clever as our enemies. What is your commitment to using the best science that is available . Creating the Adaptive Culture that we need. Director pompeo i will concede this, it is hard and a Government Institution to say cutting edge. The agency stood up under my predecessor, devon dedicated to Digital Innovation and our efforts are not only to find and hire talented people who can keep us at the cutting edge, but also to work with technology being developed in other places, and to make sure we are the beneficiaries of the work that goes into other people developing good technology. We have to stay at the forefront, our enemies are, the chinese spend a lot of money, the iranians also spent a lot of money. We have to make sure we continue to do so as well. Mr. Zarate does this have to do with the pressures on a Intelligence Community to be more predictive, coming up with Predictive Technologies and analysis . Director pompeo we do. The agency has spent, and i have put efforts in that very same. There is some interesting work that is being done to give us better capacity to do that. What is a challenge is to make that applicable in the tactical and strategic and technical operation environment that we often work. We are that half hours and days to develop solutions. If we have not done the homework before, we cannot deliver the solution. Mr. Zarate two questions here that take us back to your remarks. You spoke about the need to limit the Lateral Movement is such as by using our First Amendment rights. How do you plan to accomplish that, and the second question, are you reviewing Insider Threat detention efforts in response to wikileaks . Director pompeo we are constantly reviewing Insider Threat work. If there is one thing that doesnt involve there is a long history dating back to mesopotamia. This is a constant challenge and haveo be very vigilant about. Mr. Zarate the First Amendment was an expert. Director pompeo a little less constitutional law and a lot more of a philosophical understanding. Julian assange has no First Amendment privileges, he is not a u. S. Assistant. What i was speaking to is an understanding that these are not reporters doing good work to try to keep the American Government on us. These are actively recruiting agents to steal american secrets with the sole intent of destroying the american way of life. That is fundamentally different than a First Amendment activity as i understand them. That is what i was getting too. We have had administrations before that half been squeamish about going after these people after some concept of this right to publish. Nobody has the right to actively engage in the theft of secrets from america with the intent to do harm to it. Mr. Zarate just reminding the audience here are a couple of questions that you may not want to answer. Do you think alassad was emboldened to use capital weapons after the president said his future was up to the Syrian People . Director pompeo i refuse to go there. I think it is enough to know that we know what took place, we know that it was an atrocity and President Trump to chose to make it response to that. Mr. Zarate what should our policy towards putins russia be . Director pompeo i will leave that to somebody else. I can leave to others some of the challenging questions about the details around policy. Mr. Zarate state department what impact will be imposed to reduction in the budget in personnel, prisons have on the ability of your agency to carry out the mission . Director pompeo we worked closely with the state department nearly every place we operate and it is important that the resources to do that. With respect to the budget fight, i am someone who came from a policy were who thought government could do better up a little bit less money. I still believe that. We all are to be ever mindful to give value for dollars. What we have to do rather than spend a lot of time thinking about the exact number of dollars we are to talk about the mission set we have and the resources that are required to execute that, i am confident that the state department will end up with the resources as well. Mr. Zarate this is about elections. We talked about turkey, we have elections in france and in germany. We have elections in iran as well. How does the agency analyzed elections and the political movements . Is there anything that concerns you about trends in terms of political movements or these elections . Director pompeo we perform intelligence on the elections in the same way with respect to everything else. We try to help the president understand what the election looks like and what it tells you about the direction that a particular country might take. That is the important thing. We are focused on trying to help the to deliver to the president what changes would be. If you have a big change in leadership in france coming, or this thing that stands for an election in iran, you want to make sure you deliver what the future may look like. Mr. Zarate one last question for you. Has there been anything that has surprised to as cia director, Something Big or small, surprising or something you did not expect as cia director . Director pompeo a lot of people show up. I had a feeling for that already let as a member of congress, you spent some fraction of your time on that work and then you have other things that occupy your life as well. I have been doing this fulltime for some weeks now, what amazes me is the scope and scale of the work we undertake. The enormous breadth and capacity to deliver really well grounded, very contextual highly nuanced answers to policy makers in a very short time. It takes a lot of resources to do that. There is no other organization in the world that can pull that off. That is special and unique and perhaps not surprising, something i have enjoyed. Mr. Zarate director, thank you for the time and thank you for the honor of being here. Lets all join and strength of thanked the director for his time. [applause] this week on q a i learned the value of discourse and compromise in this program. The way i interact with people that it dont necessarily agree with has completely changed. Program devoted to hearing from High School Students attending the weeklong United States Senate Youth Program where they shared thoughts about government and politics. I can safely say i am sure i absolutely am uncertain of what i believe in that a good thing. Hard work and a fair chance or everybody to reach the top will turn out to be not an equal result, but equal chance for everybody. Tonight at 8 00 eastern on cspans q a. Cspans washington journal, live every day with news and policy issues than impact you. Joins us to discuss the history of charter schools, and the efforts by betsy devos to reform education in Advance School choice. Next, the National Consumers league talks about consumer scams and his organizations push for the 115th congress to do more to protect consumers. And the Atlantic Councils George Clooney does examines about how muchs the u. S. Pays the nato compared with other countries pay. Tomorrow, join the discussion
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