Transcripts For CSPAN3 CIA Director Says Russia Clearly Meddled In 2016 Election 20170714

Pompeo. As director, he leads the cias intelligence collection, analysis, covert action, counterintelligence, and liaison relationships with foreign intelligence services. Before assuming this role, director pompeo was serving in his fourth term as congressman from kansas fourth district. He served on the House Intelligence Committee as well as the energy and commerce committees. Prior to his service in congress, director pompeo founded fair aerospace, where he served as ceo for more than a decade. Director pompeo graduated first in his class from the United States military academy at west point and served as a cavalry officer patrolling the iron curtain before the fall of the berlin wall. After leaving active duty, mr. Pompeo graduated from harvard law school, having been an editor of the harvard law review. Tonight wellreview. Tonight well hear more about director pompeos vision for the Central Intelligence agency. All of us in this room, all of us, share a common purpose, ensuring the safety and security of the United States. Its an important mission, one that we can never forget because people are counting on us to deliver each and every day. Leadership here requires integrity, teamwork, excellence and courage just to name a few. And director pompeo definitely embodies all of those qualities. With that, join me in welcoming director mike pompeo. [ applause ] thank you. Thanks for those very, very kind words. And, thank you for inviting me to be here with you all this evening. I have a set of remarks, some things i do want to share with you, but i look forward to taking questions as well. At least i think i do. Ill let you know for sure at the end of this evening. And i would be remiss too. I thank you all for being part of this organization. I spent the bulk of my adult life running a company that made aerospace components, hard metal goods, never successful at selling the cia anything but i sure as heck tried. You all form an important part of what we do at the cia every day and i want to thank you for that. Not too long ago a very brave warrior came to us after having served 24 years in the United States army. He served with an office in the cias director of operations to tackle some of the most sensitive and difficult tasks that our agency undertakes. It was a group for which he was eminently well qualified. He brought with him a sterling military record, hed had a great career, hed been a ranger. He was among the best and he stood out for sure. He had character, intellect, grit and courage. He excelled at battlefield techniques, physical fitness and marksmanship. But perhaps most importantly he had an uncanny knack for getting the job done, however difficult the task. And the cia was thrilled to have him join our team. His first overseas like still today for many of our officers was in afghanistan working on counterterrorism. After only a few weeks, missions with him fall, planning meticulous, execution precise, the mood, cool and composed. The objective would be achieved. He was asleep one morning having just finished a mission the night before when explosion shook the walls of his room jolting him awake. He quickly gathered his equipment and met up with his colleagues. Several hundred yards away a car bomb had exploded. It was at the main entrance of the compound that housed Afghan Soldiers. He threw on his gear, climbed in his armored truck and headed to the fight. Just as he arrived a second car bomb detonated and enemy fire came streaming in from every direction. Instead of seeking cover, this cia officer leapt from his truck and ran through the dust and smoke towards the action. His colleagues said he had no fear. Near the gate he saw two Afghan Soldiers lying on the ground. They were wounded and in the open. He rushed over and carried them away himself. He was hit during that, once in the shoulder, once in the leg. But despite his ruins he continued to fight. He moved forward engaging the enemy, taking a position behind a small set of concrete stairs. From there he furiously fought to check the enemy advance until his colleagues could join him. He was a oneman wrecking crew. The attackers raked the shredded tree limbs with gunfire, hand grenades and rpgs, machine guns and suicide vests. He fought valiantly to pursue them until a grenade landed next to him. There was nothing he could do to deflect it. It exploded inflicting a mortal wound. While he was being carried away, our cia officer had a friend call out to him. And as if reporting for duty one last time, he shouted, im here. Even at the end this cia patron stood ready to serve just as he always had wherever and whenever our country needed him. Its the best of what our agency has to offer. The agency today in 2017 faces serious threats to our civilization. And were duty bound to fight them, terrorism, weapons proliferation, cyber warfare, theyre all quite tangible. Our mission demands that we have determined an aggressive espionage. We must deal secrets with audacity and be unafraid to make sure we have unfair advantage against our enemy at every turn. Im blessed to be the cia director and have thousands of officers working towards that same objective. And im incredibly proud to lead them. Well be relentless to defend against the threats to our nation because theyre real. A quick rundown of the things were facing today, although not necessarily an order. First the scourge of terrorism, the agency has been at the center of the fight since september 11th. Even today as mosul has fallen and raqqah comes under increasing pressure, the dire threat remains. We still have work to do to defeat isis. The same thing that we did to core al qaeda is the mission for them. I hope theyre listening tonight because the cia will be part of accomplishing that great and noble end. We still have a bunch of work to do, especially given isis willingness to forego major al qaeda attacks major al qaeda style attacks in favor of widespread smaller assaults they can pull off easier and with relative planning. We should be proud, but like france and britain america has plenty of trucks and plenty of sidewalks. Next and much in the news is north korea. Pyongyang is pushing 24 hours a day to continue their development of icbms that can reach us here in the states and attach a nuclear warhead. As we witnessed last week, north korea conducted its longest ever launch of a missile, an icbm. This underscores the grave threat. And while the president has made clear that this is something we must need defeated, responses are difficult to achieve, the cia stands ready to help the president achieve his ends. For 20 years america whistled past the graveyard of the problem in north korea. We do not intend for it to go on that much longer. For 20 years we allowed him to continue to develop his weapons systems. Its time for that to cease. In iran we face an adversary on the march. Unlike isis and its mirage of a caliphate, the Islamic Republic of iran is a powerful nation state that remains the Worlds Largest state sponsor of terrorism. Its strength and influence continue to increase, most notably in recent years. When you look at whats happening today in syria, in yemen and in iraq, you can see the threat. Tehran clearly aspires to be the hegemonic power in the region. And though were currently focused on destroying isis, iran presents our biggest mideast challenge over the long term. And the cia will perform a central role in pushing back against this threat. And finally, we confronted adversaries, state and nonstate actors that seek to erode democracy and the rule of law around the world. This includes groups like wikileaks, a nonstate Hostile Intelligence Service that recruits spies, rewards people who steal legitimate secrets and uses that information to subvert western democracies. And it certainly includes the russian government, which has long been the worlds foremost practitioner of active measures. Its been going on for decades. The cyber domain has greatly facilitated and accelerated these activities. Instead of having to rely on moles or agents or adversaries can just sit in a room and send ones and zeros across to do us harm. And its much easier for authoritarian governments to use these tools than it is for democracies. Theres much work to do. Bottom line is its hard to sit in the directors chair and not see a world that is a dangerous place. The threat to the civilized world is real. You know, i come from kansas, the heartland, and the sense that theres evil in the world that it must be defeated is not hyperbole or hyperventilation, its a rational response to these threats. So returning to my question from a moment ago, what does this all mean for the cia . And how do we accomplish these missions for america and for the president . First it means we have to do everything in our power to provide the strategic understanding for policymakers, talked about foreign intelligence collection, its the core of what we do. Puts tremendous pressure on us. It means we have to be relentless in stealing secrets from our adversaries. And we have to be world class when it comes to bringing together intelligence from across the government, not just the cia but the nsa, the nga, the fbi, everyone who has a touch point that helps provide information that can keep our country safe. And when we deliver our assessments, we must do so with complete candor. Cia has to speak the truth to whomever we serve without fear or favor. Whenever i swear in new officers i tell them they have a duty to deliver the truth in everything that they do. I spend a little bit of time with the president almost everyday sharing the amazing work that the Intelligence Community has been able to deliver into a single space and single point in time to help inform his decision making. Im proud of the fact that i get to be that vessel to communicate that Important Information to our president. We also today need offers of majestic intellect and across a wide range of disciplines. Its tough stuff to do intelligence work. It requires the capacity absorb vast amounts of information and it requires perceptiveness to spot trends looking beneath the data and creativity. And frankly, we need help from private sector partners as well. And i hope i can continue to take advantage of the great work thats being done in the private sector to provide aid to our agency so that we can deliver world class product to the United States government. Third, if were going to succeed against todays threats, we need a nation that understands what our agency does and what it doesnt do. Ive read all the novels. I sat on the Oversight Committee for a few years and had a chance to see the agency a bit. But its not possible to truly understand the scope and breadth and capacity of a Central Intelligence agency without being part of it. And i view it as one of the most fundamentally important things that i can undertake during my time is to make sure that america knows that the work that were doing is noble and important and lawful and central to keeping america safe. We have to make sure they know were a foreign Intelligence Agency. Thats our aim, to catch bad guys who threaten us all around the world. We all, and id ask your help in this, we all have to counter the narrative that the cia is a rogue agency somehow untethered from government. I can tell you that cias subject to rigorous oversight and appropriately so, both from the executive branch and from within the executive branch, the legislative branch and from the courts. And we have to push back against stories that are in the media that are misleading that talk about things that our officers didnt do, and we need to talk about making sure the media understands that theyre not permitted to talk about the things that our officers actually do. Its difficult to do in the intelligence business. We operate in secret for good reason. So were often limited in what we can say. We have to protect Important National security classified information. Sometimes we cant set the record straight, when doing so could harm National Security. But i think its fundamentally important that we retain the trust of the American People that will continue to give us the authority and resources to perform the Critical Mission that we do each day. We also of course need a commander in chief who appreciates the work we do and a u. S. Government that understands it as well. We have to work closely with our partners at defense and at state and our partners in Homeland Security and the fbi to make sure we have a deep understanding of whats really taking place around the world. Ive now spent six months nearly working for president trump. Hes a demanding customer. And frankly, we like it that way, because it shows he depends on us and values what we do. Let me give you a brief example to illustrate that point. Back in april one afternoon i got a call from the president. He wanted to talk about some disturbing images that he saw coming in from syria. Im sure you saw many of them yourselves, scenes of innocent civilians writhing in agony, the apparent victims of chemical weapons attacks. The president had a very direct message for me. He wanted to know exactly what had happened and he wanted to know quickly. So we assembled a crack team, couple hundred folks at the agency to begin to diagnose and understand what had taken place. They began piecing together evidence working closely with outstanding partners all across the Intelligence Community. The next day the president called his cabinet together. As we sat down he turned to me and asked what we had learned. Several of us shared what we now knew. I told him that the Intelligence Community had concluded that a chemical weapon had indeed been used in the attack and it had been launched by the syrian regime. The president paused a moment and said, pompay, are you sure . I will admit to you it took my breath away. I hope it did for some of you as well. But i knew that the Intelligence Community had solid evidence, evidence that we could provide to the president that he could count on. And i was able to look at him and say, mr. President , we have high confidence that thats what truly took place. He never looked back. Based on the Intelligence Communitys judgment he made one of the most consequential decisions of his young administration, launching a strike against the very airfield from which the attack originated. Finally, for us to be successful at confronting todays daunting array of security threat, theres one thing above all else that the cia constantly has to do, and thats improve. And thats adapt to the changing times and the changing threats. Im proud to say that the agency is operating full throttle with respect to that today. I have taken over an agency with great capability that only needed the bridle we moved so it could accelerate to full speed. We have responsibility for global coverage, but were clearly going to set priorities. Ive created two new Mission Centers aimed at focusing at putting a dagger in the heart of the korean problem and the problem in iran. This sets the priorities, it makes clear that we understand that the president asked us a specific set of pieces of information that he needs critically to perform against the tasks that he views as most vital to our nations security. It reminds me much of when i ran a Small Business, there were many tasks we had to perform at a very high level of excellence, but we also had a media task. Things if we failed the Company Might not continue to exist. The governments a little bit different. The immediate feedback loop isnt always there, but the same dynamic Agile Organization that i tried to run as a Business Owner sits before me today. Im so proud to be leading it. Im demanding excellence from everyone at all times. And im finding that everyone there wants to achieve it. You know, we wont always succeed. Theyll be bad days, but we have to accept some risk in our agency in order to be successful. If youre not coming short at times, youre probably not reaching hard enough. And we are certainly going to do that, reach hard every day. Since taking office now just on 24 weeks ago i have seen firsthand why cia officers are considered a national treasure. They accomplish truly awesome things every day. And they do so with courage, determination and humility. You know, when i thanked them, they often shun recognition. They just say theyre doing their jobs. They say that they signed up to do this mission and indeed they did. Their dedication is to a cause larger than themselves, and that certainly makes the cia very special. And its why im so confident about our future. I have no doubt whatsoever that our country will turn to the cia many times and we will prevail against todays adversaries and those yet to come. Thank you for having me here today. I look forward to your questions. [ applause ] this working . There we go. Thank you, director pompeo, for sharing those insights. Before we get started with a moderated discussion and the q a, just a reminder, there are cards on your table so that youve got questions that were generated by that great speech we just heard, write those questions down. Were going to have amazing interns circulating around the audience, okay . Theyre going to be looking for your questions. Theyre also all looking for jobs, okay . So if you got a job and you want an amazing person for it, one of these interns may be it. Okay. So if you havent finished your dinner, i think were just getting dinner out there now. Were going to remind you try and eat quietly because were going to go ahead with the q a. So now its my pleasure to introduce the man who truly needs no introduction, charlie alan, 47 years at cia, four years as undersecretary of Homeland Security for intelligence and analysis okay, folks, quiet down over there. Okay. Were trying to get this. Principal at the cherthoff group, senior Intel Advisor at insa. Nobody, nobody works harder at the business of intelligence than charlie allen. Over to you, charlie. Thank you for those remarks, director. As a cia with sort of cia in my heart is really well received. Its because we are very selfless, very dedicated group of people. And its inspiring to hear how well youve taken over the First Six Months that youve been director. You talked a little bit about the scope and the threats runs all the way from north korea to russia to china to international organized crime, which is a whole new world thats getting more and more vicious. How do you view all this . How do you feel the agency is changing to meet the speed and the velocity of the threats that were facing . Its really a very different world from one more static cold war that i worked so hard many years ago. Charlie, i appreciate the question. I was a cold warrior once too. Now several decades back i still try to use the phrase russia and avoid soviet union when i talk about it. Look, its an enormous challenge. Its one that with which im familiar from my time in business. You have to be fast. Your competitors in our case our adversaries are really quick. I was asked one time how i thought the enemy would respond to a particular action that america was contemplating. I said, well, they wont have a meeting like this one. Theyll move quickly. And we have to move quickly as well. And that means we have to understand the adversary in a way that truly reflects what theyre doing. Not to overreact, but also to make sure that were not worshipping our order chart in the agency. That we understand our mission and we are able to move against our enemies quickly. It means several things, one, you have to understand the priority set. You have to understand how it can change. And then third, you have to make sure, and this is a little counterintuitive, you have to make sure you continue to build a reservoir of talent and resources, that is you have to have the right people and you have to have the right technologies. And so i try to spend a little bit of time each day making sure that were taking care of things that will happen long after im the director of the cia. Putting employees with the tools for five and ten and fifteen years from now knowing that this worlds going to change really fast. If we try to build it in two months when its a tenyear project, well be too late. And so theres an agileness and excitement at the moment, but we also have to think very clearly about making sure we meet the demands of the future. On the 6th of january this year, the cia, the fbi and the National Security agency, admiral rogers is here, published an Intelligence Community assessment that said that the Russian Federation through cyber and through other covert means tried to influence the results of the u. S. Election. Do you have any comments on that particular assessment . And, you know, how do you feel about sanctions or current sanctions against the russians . And whats the outlook that you see as we go downstream here with the president . Look, ill leave the policy issue like sanctions to others. Its not my task. But the threat of our adversaries trying to muck with our elections is very real. And, you know, the russians clearly did it in the 2016 election. They did it in 2012 election, in the 1970s as well. Yes. There were those that seem agast and shocked that the russians were trying to impact and adversely place an outcome that they preferred on american democracy. Theyve been at this a hell of a long time. And so have a task to make sure we defend against it, not just from the russians but from were seeing the chinese lots of hacking during my times on the Oversight Committee trying to get to places in which they have no business and systems here in the United States. Weve seen the iranians do it. The list of those that are seeking the demise of western democracy is long. Many of them will use the tools that are the typical ones that get talked about. But some of them will use things like active measures and cyber security. I did see admiral rogers earlier this evening, not only to do this well defensively but to think about how to respond to those attacks as well. Thank you. Director, mosul has fallen. We know that raqqah is being surrounded and will fall. You spoke very strongly about the battle against isis and the fact that it is slowly being as i think secretary mattis said being annihilated in cities in iraq and syria, what about the as are we prepared to work with our european allies and others to because inevitably isis, the islamic state, will come after us through terrorism and through other scheme to damage the west and to damage the United States. So three tasks. Not only are we prepared to work with our european allies, weve been doing it. I spoke with one of my european counterparts just today. Ive worked closely with him in the First Six Months. The teams been doing that for much longer than ive been the director. Well work closely with them to try to help them secure their countries against homeland threats as well. But look, mission one, you talked about the diaspara, First Mission kill as many as you can because it is the case that theyll continue to fight. Second, we need to make sure that we baseline adequately so we can track them wherever they may go. There are isis affiliates today in half a dozenplus countries. Some of them are loosely affiliated with isis, some of them deeply connected. And we need to make sure and do the work wherever we find them as well. And then finally, this is a task that falls less to the cia and more to others, we have to make sure were doing the right thing to make sure if we do them aggressively, well push back, well win. The Intelligence Community is supposed to tell the president about threats and try to avoid surprise. As an old officer of cia, you know, we failed in some cases there. History is a little checkered on our ability to forecast to give advance warning to be able to understand the threats before were in extreme crisis. Ive been in extreme crisis at cia where we failed to give advance warning. How about this world you talked about earlier, the Digital World where we have machine learning, we have big data analytics. How do you feel that the agency along with the community is positioned to do a better job at getting ahead of the threat . Yeah, its tough. Im confident when we look back 25 years from now history will still be checkered. Im sure well miss a few. But, boy, ive seen an awful lot of good work done, some of it tactical, stopping tactical threats from isis, taking down terror plots. But ive also seen some really good work thats being done taking down operational and strategic threats as well. Identifying them, preparing all of u. S. Government to think about how to be prepared when the threat actually arises and actually crosses over the horizon is right on top of us. Look, it means weve got to be hard. It means we have to continue to devote the right resources that americas going to continue to have to devote the resources that are so precious. But if we do it well, we can get it right most all of the time. Thats great. Early in the administration we saw good deal of press about morale at the agency and the administration was not being kind to the Intelligence Community. I take my own sort of private poll in talking to officers at the agency. I feel the morale is very high, frankly, at langley, virginia. And could you give us a little more color or understanding about the president and his top advisors and how they take the briefings each day as you go downtown . Sure. But first, i mean, i tell you, ive traveled several dozen stations in six months, maybe its just a couple dozen, its a bunch. Yeah. One of the highlights of every trip is to go meet with officers that are working around the world to defeat the bad guys. And these are young talented, aggressive people just dying to get out there and crush it on behalf of america. I have to tell you, morale is spectacularly high. And im thrilled to see that. With respect to the president , i talked about the fact that im with him almost every day in the oval office delivering him both things that are really current that is trying to prepare him for the things right in front of him, but also working hard to ensure that were building a baseline of knowledge in the same way that im working to build my baseline of knowledge. Its hard work. The president is a tough customer. He asks hard questions. And we hope that if we dont have the answer that day we can get right back to him and make sure we deliver to him. Ive read the stories too. Ive seen it all. I can only tell you what my experience is with the president. And frankly, the experience of officers, my officers who have been with the president as well is that he not only values and appreciates the people, but is counting on us to deliver for him. And im counting on my team to deliver for him as well. Thats great. One thing that bothers me as an Intelligence Officer is what we seem to be occurring across government including capitol hill is sort of a culture of leakage. You went after wikileaks a few minutes ago, and you did it at csis. Is there anything more we can and must do . Because i think really were putting the country at risk, putting sources and methods some of which we help create years ago, decades ago. Do you have any further comments on this culture it seems to me its got to stop at some point. [ applause ] so, charlie, theres always more you can do. One of the first things i did is the head of counterintelligence now reports to me. Thats different. It was intended not only to make sure that i was personally part of making sure we were doing cia well, but i wanted to make sure everyone in my organization understood that it was an enormous priority for me. Weve got to get that right. And i think we can. There are things we can do in our screening process that will decrease the likelihood that we have a threat from inside. And then, too, there are things we can do to make sure that others arent stealing our secrets, those from outside. And we have an obligation to do that and get that right. I will tell you it is enormously frustrating to read things in the press that you know ought not to be there. And i hope its the case that this government will ensure every mans evidence is available to prosecute those that have violated the most fundamental principle of securing that information and keeping our officers, their families, our assets and our nation safe. [ applause ] youve worked your west point, armor then private sector and then of course the congress. You saw a lot of private sector. We dont as an older Intelligence Officer were not as agile in dealing with an understanding of the private sector and the motivations of what drives the private sector and the practices. What are the things that the Intelligence Community should learn or has learned in order to be more nimble and agile and particularly in this digital age . Yeah. So i think its learned quite a bit. But theres a lot of room to go. One of the things that the agency doesnt benefit from that the private sector does is private sector if you perform poorly, it doesnt take long to figure it out. Customers vanish, profits go away and the board of directors wants to know what the hecks going on. Its different here. The feedback loop isnt quite as crystal clear. It means you have to be ever more vigilant. My efforts have been to sort of take the same basic three steps of leadership that i had when i ran the two businesses that i ran, which is first make sure everybody understands the commanders intent. Make sure they understand what the president or i am looking for. And be very clear about it, unabashed about making sure they know their mission and the expectations. And hold them accountable for that. And then knock down barriers so they can go do their work. We bring in some of the most talented people every year from all across the country. Just this week i swore in 70 more officers, great young people from every background you can imagine in america. And i think my duty to them is make sure i tell them what it is we expect from them, i set them down the path, i knock everything out of their way so they can go do it and reward them when they succeed. If we can do those things, those same things you would do in the business environment, well be good enough. Thats great. How important do you see traditional human Source Intelligence . You know, its a world thats changed so rapidly with Digital World, with cyber as a means of acquiring information, at the same time, you know, human intelligence strikes me and traditional espionage is very crucial to the success and the security of the country. What are your views having looked at the agency, traveled abroad, talked to stations and people in the war zones . Yeah, weve got a human intelligence incredibly well. It requires young daring men and women ready to go to difficult places and attack adversaries at their very heart. The blessing is we have a whole host of them working for us today. And we have to do it well. Its more difficult today, right . With all the Digital Footprints everybody leaves behind, its more difficult to get an anonymous officer in under cover to the right place at the right moment. Its definitely trickier, but its just as important. Its also the case and we work closely with our signals brothers is that it is almost always the case that were working closely together, that is whether you call it human enabled or signals enabled human we are out there beside each other making sure were delivering the right information. It takes human beings with the capacity to get to the most critical places at the right time. And we have to make sure were the worlds best at it. How effective how do you view the five is arrangement. We have a fivei here tonight from the united kingdom. I worked very closely for many, many years very closely with information sharing and directing operations with our close allies, but of course we have other relationships around the world. You know, ive often been asked whats most surprising about my new role. One of the things i always mention is how much time i spent talking to our partners around the world, those helping us do our mission. We couldnt do it without them. Our five eyes partners occupy a special place and have a special relationship. And thats central to what we do. But make no mistake about it United States government depends deeply on having great partner who is are willing to share information with us, willing to run operations with us, willing to help us achieve our priorities. And that means americas got to do the same thing for them. And i have been incredibly, happily surprised at how many great partners we have that are willing to help america do the most difficult intelligence tasks around the world. Were in real good shape. [ applause ] thats great. One of the things, you have admiral hallman here tonight and theresa and others because theyre trying to get technology quickly inside the agency and inside other leaders of the community are trying to get it inside their own agencies, commercial technology is moving at a very fast pace. And consumer technologies are moving even faster. How can cia keep pace with this adoption of new and advanced commercial technology . Yeah, we have to embrace it. We have to welcome it. We have to encourage it. We have to be able to pay for it. That is we have to put the agency in a place where private enterprise understands that there are real needs in the Intelligence Community and help us to deliver against it. I think we can do it. I think we do it pretty well, but there is enormous room for improvement there. We have to be out trying to identify in the way that the agency has done well but being able to identify best in class technology, make sure we are not wedded to doing something only because we invented it inside of the building but rather be prepared to adopt World Class Technology when it helps us achieve our ends. If we do that really well, well be really fast. Some of you will be a little bit richer and well all and america will be more secure. As an old Intelligence Officer cia is sort of resistant to structural change. I remember we had a Deputy Director of plans which was our operations side, i think it was Jim Schlesinger when he was briefly director he changed it to director of operations. It seemed like a terrible thing to do. I remember old case officers saying why would we ever give away the name ddp, Deputy Director of plans . You had your predecessor a Modernization Program which made significant change, what are your views on further modernization for cia . And you just talked about two new centers youve had and putting a dagger in the heart. I thought that was a wonderful metaphor, so what are your views that wasnt a metaphor. It wasnt a metaphor. Right. Its a real. So i have not banned what i have suggested the banning of the word modernization at the cia. Okay. Because it suggests an end point. And there isnt. If were going to do this well, just like when i ran a business, if a product line wasnt selling, we did Something Different tomorrow. And we didnt penalize the folks who were building that product line. It was nothing against them. We just moved onto things customers really wanted. And in the same way the agency has to be ever changing as well. When you talk about modernization, its as if youre going to go through some transformation. I have urged people, those of you who are sitting with one of our officers at a table tonight, ask them if they have our ort chart printed on the wall, if they do, let me know because ive asked folks not to print the darn thing. And ive said that repeatedly. Its because we have to be faster than inkjet, right . We have to be able to be nimble enough to get after our adversaries, yes, we need to have organization, anarchy does not succeed, but we shouldnt worship at the altar of this thing called modernization. We should just make sure that we understand mission and that were taking the monetary resources, the technological resources, the human resources, applying against that problem set with enormous vigor. And if we do that, well be fine. So it means any time you have a particular structure, i hope each and every day were tearing down some piece of that and building a new piece. Thats great. [ applause ] you jouust appointed her, talen shes an old friend. How are you doing . You spoke about the need for diverse talent. Are we getting the diversity . Are we getting people with the kind of background, a culture and language and knowledge that we need . I mean the short answer is yes. But we have to be ever vigilant. I think about getting that and making that even better, right . Whether its Language Skills or cultural understanding or hard math skills, whatever that talent set may be that we need, we have to make sure that we have it right at the front end so that ten years from now, 20 years from now that next set of leaders, someone who will run our Talent Center 20 years from now, we dont have an opening rather we have 30 or 40 people highly qualified for that. Thats really the mission set. It is tricky to do. Lots of you out there running private enterprise. Youre willing to pay people a lot for those same talent sets. But the great thing about living in america we often have people who are willing to sacrifice some of that because theyre great patriots and want to take frankly the most interesting set of tasks that anyone can undertake, that is being a cia officer. We have remarkable people who have sacrificed a great deal to do that. For those of you watching, those sitting in the audience, come join us. We need great men and women willing to do great things. [ applause ] director, if you had to name say three things youve learned being director of cia that you did not really fully appreciate when youre a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on intelligence, what would be the major points that now that youre inside langley, inside Intelligence Agency is has such huge tasks, what do you think of the most important take of it . Most of what ive learned i cant share with you. What have i learned . So i talked about the importance of our four liaison partners and great work they do. Ive also for the first time watched how the United States stands up a new government and how difficult that task is and how critical it is that we work every day to be better not only inside our building and inside the Intelligence Community, but to make sure were addressing the needs of this government as it has stood itself up. Its an enormous undertaking. We still have too many positions so all the National Security team can be in place. And then i guess the last thing id say is that the officers who work at the cia do this in a way thats different. I was active duty soldier for a few years. When soldiers deploy, families come around them. Different when youre working at this place. And so we have to make sure we have an obligation, we have to make sure we do our best to take care of our officers and their families. We have to make sure we never forget how much those families are making on behalf of america as well. We have to make sure we continue to do that at a level of excellence that honors their commitment to america. [ applause ] the president , both at maralago and at the same time china continues to be aggressive, at least from my perspective in the South China Sea and in other areas, you spoke of the cyber threat from china. Do you have any generalized comments you can make without getting into classified realm, sir . With respect to . China. Yeah. Its a big country. Its a big country with lots of challenges. A lot of people. Look, so the chinese present significant threats to the United States. Their expansionism throughout the South China Sea, East China Sea is real and continuing. Their willingness to expend an awful lot of money to continue to build their forces globally so they can ultimately have greater economic power as against the United States is constant. We have to make sure were doing that. They have an enormous cyber. And i will tell you first and foremost i certainly hope that we can convince them that it is in their best interest to make sure that kim jongun no longer has Nuclear Weapons as well. [ applause ] they have the capacity to make a big difference there, and it is this president s expectation that they will deliver against that capacity. Thats great. The issue of the muslim ban, is that and its not a muslim ban, if youve read the executive order. Is that hurting us in any way in recruitment or bringing in talent . No. Thats a good answer. One of the things that does bother me now im working in the private sector was i didnt realize just how poorly government and the Intelligence Community included in doing contracts, getting from a proposal to rfp to the whole issue of getting a contract. And this audience knows that too well. [ cheers and applause ] great question for the evening. Yeah, oh its interesting. So i actually remember the very first time we did a contract with an entity. We were a tier two supplier but nonetheless had the government contract responsibility two at the second level and remember trying to line edit it. Look, we have to make sure that we are delivering a contract that makes sense, that protects the taxpayers interests, that serves the cias goal, but honestly ive seen the bureaucracy create nightmares too. I havent spent much time staring at that yet, but i am hopeful we can do that in a way that is world class, that is as good as the fortune 100 companies do today. If we can match that, that will serve america very well also. Okay. I think we have time for one more question. In 2011, the primary threats were the same, russia, china, north korea, and then we had the arab spring well, we actually had it in december 2010, so the person writing the question doesnt recall when it really started. There were selfmodulations and tunisia and arab spring started, is there a need to get ahead of the threat, to anticipate, to see societal changes. And youre doing a lot of work in the director of digital innovation, youre looking at using big data platforms in ways to detect this early on patterns and finding what rumsfeld used to call the unknown unknowns. Yeah. Any further comment on that, sir . No. Other than there are lots of really smart people and lots of really Good Technologies that i think can help us supplement the human intellect in ways that can let us be a little more predictive. We can also make sure that were not drinking our own bath water, that is we are constantly challenging our assumptions, the platforms upon which our analytics brought us. If we do that and do it in realtime, well serve the country well. If we fail to do that, well fail all too often to keep america safe. Director pompeo, thank you for this everyoning. You have a lot of friends out here in the private sector. [ applause ] thank you for coming. Thank you. Thank you, sir. [ applause ] cspans interview with Linda Mcmahon airs tonight. Shes the head of the Small Business administration before becoming a member of president trumps cabinet she was ceo of World Wrestling entertainment. Join us tonight at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan, online at cspan. Org or on the free cspan radio app. And on sunday new york congressman eliot engel, Ranking Member on the Foreign Affairs Committee Discusses russia, north korea and iran. Thats on newsmakers sunday morning at 10 00 and later that evening at 6 00, also on cspan. The National Governors Association Summer meeting Live Saturday on cspan starting at 9 30 a. M. Eastern. Governors talk about computer coding and the importance of Computer Science in schools with girls who code ceo, former microsoft ceo Steve Ballmer and Tesla Ceo Elon musk, who will speak at the governors closing session. Watch the National Governors Association Summer meeting live on the cspan networks, cspan. Org and listen live on the free cspan radio app. This weekend on American History tv on cspan3 State University professor discusses Union General george mcclullens failed attempt. Havent done a lot of research about what this peninsula looks like and what marching along this peninsula would be like. But hes so dead set on making sure that he doesnt concede anything to lincoln that he basically puts his army on the virginia peninsula in the spring of 62, its going to turn out to be perhaps the worst possible place to launch his campaign. Sunday at 6 30 p. M. On the 325th anniversary of the salem witch trials, historian margo burns talks about records of the salem witch hunt. That is one reason why we know so much about salem village, why we know so much about the pleas of innocence because Samuel Harris took it all down. Theres a reason that arthur is it reads like a play. She says this, he says that, oh, this town over here, we couldnt hear, girls flailing around, all those descriptions come from samuel because he was reconstituting it from his shorthand. And 8 00 p. M. Eastern on the presidency, Curtis Wilkey and on the road to camelot. I was a junior in college in 1960 and it was the first time i ever heard the word charisma. And it was because he had charisma. Richard nixon didnt have charisma. Lbj didnt have charisma. But jack kennedy had charisma. I think that could have possibly tipped the balance in some peoples minds, and smart as hell too. For our complete American History tv schedule go to cspan. Org. As the u. S. Deals with a nationwide opioid epidemic, a house subcommittee heard from officials from maryland, rhode island and virginia about how theyre treating people at risk of addiction and abuse. The hearing is two and a half hours