Dickerson meanwhile challenges for the commander in chief in iran, pakistan and north corey where what president tauntetaunted jongun about thes of his nuclear button. Kentucky senator rand paul will join us to talk about the challenges for congress in 2018. And former mississippi governor and rnc chairman Haley Barbour will talk about this Election Year and plenty of analysis here and abroad is all ahead on face the nation. Good morning, welcome to face the nation im John Dickerson with temperatures getting down to the Single Digits in washington this weekend the president , members of his cabinet and republican congressional leadership left the city and huddled at camp david to talk about priorities. Cia director mike mom mayo was there, is back in washington joins us this morning welcome, mr. Director. Thank you. Dickerson the president said hes a stable genius, is he . Im with the president nearly every day. We engage in some of the most weighty matters, i deliver this exquisite product that is developed by my officers. He engages in a way that he understands, yes, he asks hard questions. He delivers policy outcomes based on the information that we provide him. My observation of the president is that we deal in serious matters and that this book is in no way that. Dickerson let me get to the serious matters in a minute. Give us an example of this. There is this book you refer to, got all the stories, debate about the veracity. One of these penetrating questions, these insights the president has had . Ill give you really good example it was from early spring, ive been serving for couple of months at this point. There was this question about syria. Was this in fact the assad regime that used chemical weapons, thats an intelligence question, can you demonstrate, were they used against civilians, was it the assad regime. He called me up had three very direct questions basically what i just. Mike, i need to you answer these as quickly as you can. Then we came back the next day gave him what we knew. He sent us back for a little more clarity we were confident in what we were doing before he made what he viewed as very important Foreign Policy decision about how to respond to that. I could give you countless other examples. Dickerson seems we have situation here where on the one hand you have the accounts in this book, if it were true, there were questions about the president s ability to perform his office would put duty to speak up. Then on the other side you have what could be fundamental smear against democracy which to say fitness of the president , this isnt just some political critique, whether he can perform which goes to the heart of what is going on. Those are the two options is that the way you see submitted. I can only give you my experiences, john. I havent read the book. I got plenty of important things to deal with. I dont put this as one of those. But my observation is that, my dealings with the president on some of the most important issues that the president has to face are as professional and as thoughtful as the American People deserve. The president is handling these duties in a way that im proud of to be part of his team. Dickerson one of those duties, north korea. The New York Times has a piece in the times talking about intelligence on being able to track the north Korean Missile program. In that piece it says this. Talking about Intelligence Community. Their inability to foresee the rapid strides now ranks among americas most significant intelligence failures. What do you think of that piece and is that right . John, just got this one wrong. The author of the piece. Ive been one who has been candid where the Intelligence Committee has made mistakes, this is not. That in this case frankly before my time. The work that was done to understand jongun to understand the regime and advancement of his Missile Program was really first rate. We did understand the progress that he was making. Multiple administration have had access to that same set of information and that program has progressed. Dickerson not just david sanger, h. R. Mcmaster street quoted as saying that the program has been quicker in the timeline is a lot more compressed than most people believe. You are never going to get the day right or the week right. But intelligence can provide policy makers is, an understanding of capability, capacity. And understanding of motive and intent we nailed both of those things. Then our best effort to understand how that will proceed at what pace. Frankly got that mostly right. Dickerson when you last spoke in august you said attack from north korea is not something that is imminent. Where is that you still believe that now . I d. I do. Dickerson just few months away from crossing the threshold to putting u. S. City of nuclear attack. Where are we now on that timeline . That remains the same. Dickerson still a few months away from that . Yes, sir. Dickerson what is few, three or four . I cant give you that kind of certainty. Dickerson north korean soldiers some have sprinted to freedom, what are we learning from them . Two things. That the team would identify is that this is a we talk about the nuclear force, its the big focus but i will promise you secretary mattis and our team never forgets they have enormous conventional capacity has well, that threatens not only south korea but other neighbors. We i dont wanted to on the show here tell you but we have what we think very good tea saysment of their military capability. How ready those enormous forces are. Dickerson you said in december the president s tweets actually helped the cia execute its mission. This week, the president tweeted about the nuclear button, how does that help the c iota do it mission . Yes, sir. That tweet is completely consistent with u. S. Policy. President , unlike Previous Administrations, has made a real commitment that is that the denuclearization of the peninsula is the mandate that is what we are going to achieve. The president has made very clear that were going to do everything we can to do that in a way that doesnt involve military action. But equally made clear that were not going to stand for allowing jongun to hold los angeles or denver at risk. What you saw in that message the same as the rest of the messaget made that policy crystal clear. Important to jongun idea that clarity. Dickerson some thought it was joke around or you dont be cavalier about Nuclear Weapons. Is that, though, helpful that kind of willingness to risk talking about Nuclear Buttons in a casual way in terms of keeping the other side off guard . I cant tell you that kim jongun has read that, but im confident that he did. My my guess as he is trying to figure out exactly how it is he does what he wants to do, which is keep his Nuclear Weapons and stay in power. I think thats what you see happening this week where hes now agreed to have some conversations with the South Koreans, alacking for foothold to walk himself back. Enthoroughly consistent with the historical activity. We see the threat, he tries to pacify it. You can be sure that this administration is not going to fall prey to the same trap that Previous Administration did. Dickerson with north korea they have continued testing, u. S. Said stop testing we might talk spin fashion. In that context this decision to talk to the South Koreans would seem to be positive step if hes in the modesto step back instead of test. Yes, sir, i hope thats the case. Ever the optimist, always the realist. I hope thats the case but past his torely would indicate that this is a faint, not likely to lead to any true strange in his outlook, hell continue to want to maintain his nuclear capability. That the president has said is unacceptable. Dickerson the engagement in the last several months is your picture clearer, more sharp about the north Korean Leader or fuzzier . A little more clear. Frankly the great officers that work for me their efforts to deliver to the president a little more granularity and a little more color to help understand what not only kim jongun is thinking but those around him. John, we dont though kim jongun is getting the straight story from those around him about the tenuous position he finds himself in domestically and internationally. It is not a good healthy thing to tell kim jongun bad news. Dickerson he tweeted about the deep state s. There a deep state at the cia . No, sir. Dickerson has there ever been one . Ive only been there a little while. I cant believe its ever been there. These are professional who sacrifice so much to serve america, theyre patriots. Truest and highest order. Dickerson iran, what is the significance of the protest is this a turning point or just a flash point in the regime will continue . Difficult to know analytically if this is a turning point. It is different. The protests that we saw in 1999 hand 2009 were from elites. This was not that. It was ordinary same people who would enlist in irgc their neighbors are now the ones out protesting. Theyre protesting because they have seen the failed promises of the president that they havent been able to deliver the check out comes that they said. They said they would get jcpoa the food would be plentiful, jobs would rise, simply hasnt happened. Dickerson the socalled iran deal. In that sense is the iran deal forced destabilization in iran there for that good for in terms of the u. S. Interests . From the perspective, what is clear is that there have been economic difficulties in iran in places outside of take ran, theres a massive uncommitment what the iranian people were promised has not happened they can see that. They have taken to the streets. Dickerson let me ask you about pakistan, u. S. Is cutting off aid to pakistan. That is a Nuclear Power. Is it a good idea to pressuring pakistan, given all the rest of the plate in the United States, with the Nuclear Power . John, again, im going to avoid the policy that you asked about. But from the intelligence perspective what we see. We see the pakistanis continuing to provide safe harbor, havens inside of pakistan for terrorists who present risks to the United States of america. We are doing our best to inform pakistanis that this is no longer going to be acceptable so this condition aid, weve given them chance if they fix this problem, were happy to continue to engage with them. But if they dont were going to protect america. Dickerson havent we always, though get a line in the u. S. Intelligence benefits from things that the pakistanis do, isnt there kind of a relationship that may not be perfect but for the bad things they do they allow Counter Terrorism to benefit from staging, isnt that at risk in terms of National Security problem . The president has made very clear that he needs pakistan to cease being a safe haven for terrorist that threaten the United States of america, period, full stop. Dickerson the seven of two, there are some questions about how long to reauthorize it. What is the cias position about this program which allows surveillance of foreign people but also critics believe allows back door to gaining information about americans . John, the section 702 is important component of american National Security, allows us the cia to observe communications from nonu. S. Citizens, persons outs side of the United States thats central to our mission. So we are very hopeful that we can reach an accommodation that we can get to the right place and i understand it may well come to a vote this week. I hope thats the case. I hear the critics from the other side, i understand their concerns, i hope that we can accommodate them in a way and achieve our National Security mission. While doing while continuing to protect americans privacy, i think we can do them both. Dickerson let me ask you a final question here. That is san Election Year, lot of talk about the russians, destabilization. Are the russians engaged in trying to undermine the elections and do you worry about that this year . Yes, sir, i do. Dickerson are they currently doing that . Yes, sir. Have been for decades. Yes, i continue to be concerned not only about the russians, but about others efforts as well the we have many folks who want to undermine western them mock see. This is washingtonbased focus on russian interference. Make sure we broaden the conversation. We hawaiian important function as a parted of the american nation National Security team to keep the american elections safe and secure and democratic. Were working diligently to do that were going to work against the russians or any others who threat then very outcome. Dickerson direct for pompeo, thanks for being with us. Well be back in one minute to talk with Kentucky Republican senator rand paul in his first sunday show appearance since being injured in an altercation with his neighbor. Stay with us. Oh, its actually. Sfx short balloon squeal its ver. Sfx balloon squeals ok can we. Sfx balloon squeals goodbye oof, that milk in your coffee was messing with you, wasnt it . Try lactaid, its real milk, without that annoying lactose. Good right . Yeah. Lactaid. The milk that doesnt mess with you. Dickerson were back with Kentucky Republican senator rand paul. Good to have you back, senator. We hope you have fully recovered. By the way, happy birthday as well. Thank you. I was wondering about getting presents today but i understand that the ethics rules of the senate wont let me take any presents. Dickerson your presence is our present. How are you feeling, by the way . A little better each day. It was a living hell for the first four or five weeks, difficulty, couldnt get out of bed without assistance, six broken ribs, damaged my lungs, two bouts of pneumonia. It was really a tough go of it but each day i feel a little bit better. This last month hive been doing better. Dickerson you havent talked about the motivation for this, there is an increased in politics things have gotten a little bit uglier, was that part of what happened here, can you talk about that with your colleague . You know my colleagues come up all the time they want to make sure there is some kind of deterrence because people dont want to think that its open season on our elected officials. I was also at the baseball field when we were shot at with semi automatic fire and Steve Scalise was severely wounded i was ten feet from a young staffer who was shot in the leg. Yeah, ive been involved in Violent Attacks twice in the last year. Were very aware of it. I think one of the thing about motivations is people got obsessed, some in the media about motivations, but i think really we usually dont ask if someone is raped or mugged why the person did it. We want punishment and deterrence, i guess thats what people mostly about. I just dont think of any kind of motivation or justification whether its political or personal to attack someone who is unaware from behind in their own yard. Dickerson those who are involved in politics might think about changing the way they believe and change that climate. Maybe. Dickerson let me ask you with the the climate here in washington this new book about the white house, as politician, the president has responded by talking about his mental stability, why do you suppose did he that when instead he could say, forget this book, we have tax cuts, defeating isis, weve nominated bunch of judges, why do you think he did that . You know, i dont know. I guess my First Response this was sort of gossipy book, like kitty kelly book back when i was in high school, nobody really believed them. They were treated as sort of like a sitcom or treated as a television show. They werent treated seriously by the media. I think from high experience, ive been around the president quite a bit, ive been in the white house quite a bit. I can give you one example that i think really shows his great insight and ability to cut through to the chase and do things that ordinary politicians dont d. That is when i took him the idea of letting individuals join together to buy insurance across state lines. Every politician, republican and bureaucrat in washington said we couldnt do it, they hadnt done it in 30 years, he looked at the original law, told his lawyers look at the original law and see if the interpretation of the previous government attorneys have been corrected. He had the wherewithal just to say, no. Were going to let individuals join these groups so they can get cheaper insurance and perhaps better insurance as well and perhaps get insurance for people who dont have insurance. But did he that because hes different than any other politician. Now we have all these wise acres wanting to criticize be presumptuous about trying to judge someones intelligence, i can tell you he has the wherewithal that no politics has beenably to do and in a good way. Dickerson a couple of policy questions, we tacked about section 702 of the cia director, you have held up a nomination of john demmers and talking about filibustering this, why . 702 is supposed to get information on foreigners, we have lower than constitutional standard. Well the constitution doesnt apply to people in other countries, i agree with that. We collect massive amount of information on foreigners but they talk to americans. So after you gather millions of bits of information, turns out theres a lot of americans in the database. We dont want to happen is that domestic law enforcement, police and fbi looking at database that was collected without cons if i talksal protection and lets sae medical marijuana people in colorado, which is legal in colorado but now federal government talking about changing their policy and going after them. What is if theyre searching a database that was collected on foreigners to get in