Sector to provide world class product the government. If we want to succeed we need a nation that understands what our agency does and what it doesnt do. I read all the novels. I sat on the Oversight Committee had a chance to see the agency a bit, but its not possible to truly understand the scope and breadth and capacity of the Central Intelligence agency without being part of it and i vie it as one hoff the most fundamentally important job is do to know that its central to keeping america safe. We have to make sure they that were a foreign intelligence agency. Thats our came to catch bad guys around the world. We all and id ask your help in this we have to counter the narrative that the cia is a rouge agency, some how untethered from government. I can tell you the cia is subject to rigorous oversight, from the executive branch and from within the executive branch, the legislative afternoon the courts, and we have to push back against stories in the media that irmisleading that talk about things or officers didnt do and we need to talk about making sure the media understand theyre not permitted to talk about the things our officers actually do. 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 win doing so can harm National Security, but i think its fundamentally important that re retain the trust of the american supreme they will continue to give us the authority and resources to perform the Critical Mission we do each day. We also of course need a commander in chief who appreciate this work we do and a u. S. Government that understands it as well. We have to work closely with our partners at defense and state and Homeland Security and the fbi to make sure we have deep understanding what is really taking place around the world. Ive now spent six months nearly working for president trump. He is a demand customer, and frankly, we like it that way. It shows he depend 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 disturbing images he saw from syria. Im sure you saw them yourselves, scenes of innocent civilians in agony, the apparent victims of chemical weapon attacks. The portland had a very direct message for me. He wanted to know exactly what happened and wanted to know quickly. We assum belled assembled a crack team to diagnosis what took place. The put together evidence, working closely with partners in the Intelligence Community. The next day the president called the cabinet together. Then he turned to me and asked what we had learned. Self of user shared what we knew. Told hem that the Intelligence Community connect that chemical weapon had indeed been used in the attack and launched by the syrian regime. The president paused a moment and stayed, pompeii, are pom, are you sure . I will admit i took my breath away. Hope it did for some of you as well. But i knew that the Intelligence Community had solid evidence, evidence we could provide to the president that he could count on, and and i was able to look at him and say, mr. President , we have high confidence that is what truly took place. He never looked back. Based on the judgment me made one of the most consequence shall decisions on his young administration, launch an air strike against the very air field from which the attack only nateed. For us to be successful at confronting the security threats theres one thing that the ceo cia has to do and thats imof and adapt to the changing times and changing threats. Im proud to say the agency is operating full throttle with respect to that today. I have taken over an agency with great capability that only needed the pridele bridle removed to accelerate to full speed. We have the responsibility for global governing coverage but will create new priorities. I have two new Mission Centers aimed at putting a dagger in the heart of the korean problem and the iran problem. The makes clearly we understand that the president asked us a pick set of pieces of information he needed critically to perform against the tasks he views as most vital to our nations security. They remind me of when i ran a small business. Many task wes had to perform at a very high level of excellence and had meet tasks, if we failed the Company Might not continue to exist. The government is a little different. This immediate feedback loop isnt always there but at the same dynamic, Agile Organization i tried to run as a business owner, sits before me today. Im demanding excellence from anyone at all times times and fg that everyone there wants to achieve it. We wont always succeed. There will be bad days. But we have to accept some risks in our agency in order to be successful. If youre not coming short of time, youre probably not reaching hard enough and were going to do that. Reach hard every day. So since taking office just 24 week ago i have seen first hand why i cia are considered a narl treasure. They operate with courage, determination and humility. When i thanked them, they often shun recognition. They say theyre just doing their jobs. They say they signed up to do this mission and indeed they did. Their dedication to a cause larger than themselves and that certainly makes the cia very special and why im so confident about our future. I have no doubt whatsoever that our country will turn to the cia many times and we approximately prevail against todays adversaries and those yesterday to come. Thank you for having me here today. Look forward to your questions. [applause] thank you, director, for those insights. Before we get started, with the moderated discussion and the q a, there are cards on your table so youve got questions that were generated by that great speech we just heard, write those questions down. Well have amazing insa enters circulating in the audience. Theyre going to be looking for your questions. Theyre also all looking for jobs. Okay . So, if you good at job and you want an amazing person for it, one of this interns may be it. So, up of were just going to get dinner out there now. Please try to eat quietly because were going have we the q a. Now its my pleasure to introduce the man who needs no introduction, charlie allen, 47 years at the cia, rising to its highest ranks. Four years as undersecretary of Homeland Security for intelligence and analysis. Okay, folks, quiet down over there, okay . Were trying to get this. Principle at the chertoff group, Senior Intelligence at insa. Nobody, nobody works harder at the business of intelligence than charlie allen. Over to you, charlie. [applause] thank you for the remarks. I have cia in my heart. Wellreceived. Because we are very selfless, very dedicated group of people, and it is inspiring to hear how well you have taken over in the first six mock months you have been direct you. You talked about the scope and threats running from north korea to russia to china to proliferation, to international organized crime, whole new world that is 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 were facing . Its really a very different world for the one, a more static cold war i worked to hard many years ago. Charlie, appreciate the question. I was a cold warrior once, too. Now several decades back i still try to use the phrase russia and troy to avoid soviet union. Its an enormous challenge. You have to be fast. Your competitors, our adversaries, are really quick. Was asked how i thought the enemy would respond to a particular action that america was contemplating. Said 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 reflected what theyre doing, not to overreact but also to make sure that were not worshiping our own chart inside the agency. We understand the mission and able to move against the enemies quickly. That means several thing you have to understand the priority expect how it can change, and then, third, have to make sure a little counterintuitive build the reservoir of talent and resources, have to have the right people and the right technology. And so i try to spend a little about of time each day make sure well take care of things that will happen along after im director of the cia, putting in place the tools for five and ten and 15 years from now, nothing this world will change fast, and if we try build nit two months when its a tenyear project we will be too late. Theres an agileness and excitement at the moment but we have to make sure we meet the demands of the future as well. Thank you. On the 6th of january this year, the cia, thefish, and the National Security agency, published an Intelligence Community assessment that said the russia federation, through cyber and through other covert means, tried continue nuisance the results of the u. S. Election. Do you have any comments on that particular assessment and how you feel about sanctions, the current sanctions against the russians and what is the outlook as we go downstream here with the president. Yeah. Look,ll 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. The russians clearly did it in the 2016, the 2012 election and the 1970s as well. There were those who seem aghast and shocked the russians were trying to impact and adversely place the outcome they preferred on american democracy. Theyve been at thats hell of a long time. So we have a task to make sure we defend against it. Not just from the russians but from we have seen the chinese, a lot of hacking during my time on the Oversight Committee, trying to get to places in which they have no business or systems. The iranians have done it. The list is long. Many of them use the tools that are the typical ones talking and also active measures in Cyber Security and we i saw admiral rogers includes all of them being prepared to do this well defensively and think about how to respond to those attacks as well. Thank you. Director, mosul has fallen. We know that raqqa is being surrounded and wail fall will fall. You speak about the battle with isis and slowly being annihilated in the cities in iraq and syria. What about the diaspora . Are we prepared to work of our european allies and others to because evidently, the size, the islamic state, will come after us to damage the west and damage the United States. Three tasks. I mean, the short answer is, yes, not only are we prepared to work with our european allies, weve been doing it. A spoke to one of my european counterparts today. Worked closely with them in the first six months. Well work with them to try to help them secure their countries against homeland threats as. We mission one, the die as practice its to make sure theres few people in the diaspora as possible. So, first mission, kill as many as you can because it is the case, theyll continue the fight. Second, we need to make sure that as been gel community we do our work so we can track them wherever they go. There are assist affiliates in half a dozen countries, some loosely affiliated with eye and is, some deeply connected. We need to take down those networks and this is a task that falls lest to the cia more to others. We have to make sure we secure america against isis here as well. If we do those thing tryings with elan and aggressively, well push back and well win. The Intelligence Community is supposed to tell the president about threats threats and try td surprise. As an old officer of the cia, we failed in some cases. History is a little checkered on our ability to forecast, to give advance warning to be able to understand the threats before we are in an extreme crisis. Ive been in extreme crisis at the 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 is along with the community is positioned to do a better job of getting ahead of the threat . Its tough. Im comfortable when we look back 25 years from now the history will still be checkered and im sure well mace few but ive seen an awful lot of good work done. Some tactical, but also seen some really good worm, taking done operational and strategic threats as well, identifying tell, preparing all of u. S. Government to think about how to be prepared when the threat actually arises on the actually crosses of the horizon and is on top of us. It mean wes have to be hard, we have to continue to devote the right resources that america will have to devote 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 a good deal of press about morale at the agency and the administration was not being kind to the Intelligence Community. I think my own sort of private poll in talking to officers at the agency, i feel the morale is very high, frankly, at langley, virginia. Could you give us a little more color or understanding that the president and his tops a individualers and how he takes the briefings each day . Sure. Ive traveled several dozen stations in six months, maybe a couple decide to, bunch, one of the high lights is to immediate with officers that are working around the world to defeat the bad guys, and these are young, talented, aggressive people who are just dying get to out there and crush it. Morale his high and im thrilled to see. That with respect to the president , i talk about the fact im with him almost every day in the oval office, delivering him both things that are really current, trying to prepare him for the things right in front of him and also working hard to ensure were building a baseline of knowledge in the same way im working to build my baseline of knowledge. Its hard work. The president is a tough customer. He asks hard questions and we hope if we dont have the answer today well get back to him and make sure we deliver it to him. Ive read the story, too. I can only tell you my experience, and the experience of the officers my officers who have been with the president as well. He not only values and appreciates the people but is counting on to us deliver for him, and im counting on my team to deliver for him as well. Thats great. One thing near thes me as an Intelligence Officer is what we seem to be occurring across government, including capitol hill, is a sort of culture of leakage. You went after wikileaks, and you did it at csis. There is anything more we can good must do . Because i think really were putting the country at risk, putting sources and messages which we help create years ago, do you have any further comments on this culture of leakage that has to stop at some point. [applause] charlie, theres always more you can do. One of the first things i did is he head of counterintelligence now reports detectively to me. It was intended to make sure that i was personally part of making sure we were doing cia well but i wanted to make sure everyone in the organization understood that it was an enormous priority. We have to get that right. Think we can. There are things we can do inside our open buildings and in our screening process that will decrease the likelihood we have threat from inside. And then, too, things we can do to make sure that others arent stealing stealing our secrets from outside and we have an obligation to do that. Its enormously frustrating to read things in the press you now ought not be there and i hope its the case this government will ensure that every mans evidence is available to prosecute those who violated the most fundmental principle of securing that information and keep our officers, their families outcome assets and our nation safe. [applause] you have worked your west point, farmer, then private sector and chen the congress. You saw lot of the private sector, as ran old Intelligence Officer were not as agile in dealing with the private setter and the motivations of what drives drives the privateer. What are the thing his Intelligence Community should learn or has learned in order to be nor nimble agile . I think its learned quite a but brut room to good one thing the agency doesnt benefit from is the privity seconder, if now perform poorly, doesnt take throng figure it out. Customers vanish, profits go away and the forked of directors wants to know what is going on. The feed back loop is not aclears. My efforts have when to take the same basic free sents of leadership i had when i ran the two businesses i ran, which is first make sure everybody understands the commanders intent and make sure they understand what the president or i am looking for and be very clear about it, unabashed to make sure they know their expect mission and expectations. And then knock down barriers. In some of the most talented people, everywhere year. This book 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 to make sure i tell them what it is we accept from them, set the down the path, nothing everything out of their bay and then reward them if if the succeed. The same thing you do in the business environment. How important is traditional human Source Intelligence . Its a world that has changed so rapidly. Digital world, cyber as a means of acquiringings in. At the same time, human intelligence, it strikes me traditional espionage is crucial to the success and surety of the countriment what of your views, having looked at the agency, traveled abroad, talked to stations and people in the war zones. We have human intelligence incredibly well. It requires young daring men and women willing to good to rick plays and attack their adversaries. We have a whole lowes of them working for us and we have to do it well. Its more digit today. With all the digital foots its rick to get an anonymous officer to the right police at the right moment. Its trickier but just as important. Also the case, and we work closely with our signals brothers. It is almost always the case were working closely together. Whether you call it signals enabled human, were out there beside each other making sure were delivering the right information. Takes human beings with the capacity to get to the most critical places at the right time and we have to make sure we the worlds best at it. How effective how do you view the iiii. Worked very closely with an information sharing and directing operations with our close allies, of course we have other relationships around to the world. How do you work on the foreign relationships and the health of the relationshipships from the iaea to colleagues over overseas. Im asked what is most surprise myth new role. One thing always mission is how much time i spent talking to our partners around the world. Those that are helping dues our mission. Could do it without them. Our partners occupy a special place and have the a special relationship, and that is central to what we do. But make no mistake, the United States government depends deeply on having great partners who are willing to share action with us, willing to run operates with us, weeing to help us achieve our priorities and that means america has to do the same thing for them and i have been incredibly happily surprise it at how many great partner wes 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 michigan you have Andrew Holeman here today and at the series and others. Theyre trying to get technology quickly inside the agency and inside the others are leaders of the community are trying to get it inside their own agenciedful commercial technology is moving at a very fast pa pace and consumer technologies are moving even faster. How can the cia keep pace with the adoption of new and advanced commercial technology . We have to embrace it. Welcome it, encourage it, be willing to pay for it. We have to put the agency in a place where private enterprise understands that there are real needs in the Intelligence Community and to help us deliver against it. Think we do can i do. If think we do it will but theres enormous room for improvement. We have to be out trying to identify the way the agency has done well but being able to identify best in Class Technology and make sure were not wedded to doing something only because we invented it inside of the building. Significant change what are your views on further modernization for the cia and
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