Previous post at the white house and the department of justice and we appreciate your continued willingness to serve. Our goal in conducting this hearing is to enable the committee to consider ms. Elwoods qualification and allow for thoughtful deliberation by our members. Shes provided substantive written questions answers to more than 90 questions presented by the committee and its members. Today, of course, members will be able to ask additional questions and to hear from ms. Elwood in this open session. Courtney comes in front of the committee with a distinguished legal career. After graduating Yale Law School in 1994, courtney clerked for the u. S. District court of appeals for the Fourth Circuit after which she went to clerk for chief Justice William rehnquist of the Supreme Court courtney then took a job as the associate of kellogg, hubert, hanson in the same firm where she is now a partner. January, 2001, she left the firm to serve as associate counsel to the president rising through the ranks to deputy counsel to the Vice President and then department chief of staff and counsel to the attorney general. During the extremely difficult time in the days and weeks and months after 9 11, ms. Elwood provided sound Legal Counsel to our nations leaders as they considered what tools the Intelligence Community needed to combat terrorism and to secure our nation. Ms. Elwood, youve been asked to serve as the chief legal officer of the Central Intelligence agency at a time when the agency and the Intelligence Community as a whole faces complex legal questions and a host of challenging priorities. The cias general counsel must provide sound and timely legal advice to the director and must manage an office responsible for legal oversight and compliance at the worlds premiere intelligence agency. But more than that, the cia general counsel maintains a vital public trust. Part of your job will be to ensure for the American People that above all, the agency operates lawfully, ethically, and morally. Since you left Government Service, the nature and number of challenges and threats the Intelligence Community is tracking have multiplied significantly. While americans continue to engage in robust debate about which intelligence authorities are right, appropriate, and lawful, i expect you to ensure that the agency operates within the bounds of the law and to ensure that the office of general counsel is in the position to provide the best legal advice possible to director pompeo and the agency as a whole. This committee has received letters of support from your current and former colleagues. In a letter of support signed by those who served in both democrat and republican administrations, your former colleagues praised your acumen, integrity, and judgment, and i quote, deep respect for the rule of law. Jack goldsmith, the professor at the Harvard Law School who has known you since you were a law student at yale, referred to you as a superb, independentminded lawyer. A letter from the d. C. Bar association on National Security law policy and practices highlighted your deepseeded commitment to the rule of law and to our democratic principles, and your colleague ben powell, former general counsel to the dni had this to say. Shes simply one of the finest lawyers and persons ive ever worked with in my career. After meeting you, its easy to see how youve garnered such widespread consistent accolades. I know that your strong moral compass and sharp legal mind will serve you well as the general counsel of the Central Intelligence agency. As i mentioned to director pompeo during his nomination hearing, i can assure you that this committee will continue to faithfully follow its charter and conduct vigorous and realtime oversight over the Intelligence Community, its operations and its activities. Well ask difficult questions, probing questions of you and your staff, and we expect honest, complete, and more importantly timely responses. I look forward to supporting your nomination ensuring its consideration without delay. Thank you again for being here and for your service to the country. I look forward to your testimony. I now recognize the vice chairman for any Opening Statements he might make. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Welcome, ms. Elwood. Again congratulations on your nomination to serve as general counsel of the cia. I see john as well. Although i do have to question to a degree your legal judgment by bringing my friend tim kaine as an introducing factor, but i will overlook that. Obviously this position is a tremendous responsibility, one that requires a careful review of the qualifications and character of the individual nominated and i echo a lot of the comments that the chairmans made. If confirmed, youll be sitting at a critical intersection between intelligence and policy making. As the agencys top legal officer, the director will turn to you to make judgments on whether a contemplated activity is legal or not. This job requires a leader with unimpeachable integrity and unwavering commitment to the constitution laws of the United States. Who will apply both sound legal analysis and good judgment, the task of providing counsel to the agency. During our conversation, when we had a chance to visit you and i agreed that politics has no place in the cia general counsels office. We discussed the need to follow the law, including the Army Field Manual to ensure that torture does not tarnish the reputation of the Intelligence Community or this country again. Ms. Elwood, during my questions i will again want your public assurance today that you will always seek to provide unbiased, unvarnished, and timely Legal Counsel to the director of the cia even when doing so might be inconvenient or uncomfortable. Obviously, there will be a number of challenges that will require that kind of legal judgment going forward. Those challenges will include making sure we continue to protect the privacy and Civil Liberties of americans. The increasing use and relevance of vast amounts of Public Information creates a significant challenge and opportunity for the whole cia and the whole ic. Weve got to always make sure that were protecting the privacy and Civil Liberties of the United States citizens as we take on these these new tools moving forward. An issue that i know has a number of us on the committee have been very concerned about and i think will come back again is encryption. Again related to privacy concerns, the Intelligence Community needs to find ways to access the communications of our adversaries while protecting privacy rights and american commercial ingenuity. I believe we cannot tie the hands of our Technology Leaders by unilaterally disarming them with possible security loopholes, an area again that this committee has looked on is information sharing. The rapid change of Information Technology enables significant sharing of classified information and we must find work to find ways to have the appropriate level of sharing. And finally, a subject that has been a lot of the attention of the committee recently. Chairman burr and i have committed to conduct a review of the intelligence supporting the Intelligence Communitys assessment that russia at the direction of president Vladimir Putin sought to influence the 2016 u. S. President ial election. Its important that all americans fully understand the extent of russias involvement. It is vital that the cia pursuant to your legal guidance support our investigation to the maximum extent possible and allow this committee to follow the facts wherever they may lead. This is a charge i know i take seriously, all the members of the committee take seriously, on behalf of the American People and we will continue to pursue this both thoroughly and expeditiously. I will again during my questions ask you to commit to me and all members of the committee that you will fully cooperate with this review and that you will do all you can to ensure that weve provide the information we, i to conduct it. With that, again, thank you for being here ms. Elwood, and i look forward to todays hearing. Thank you mr. Chairman. Thank you, mr. Vice chairman. Id like to at this time recognize our colleague, the distinguished senator from virginia, tim kaine, who will introduce ms. Elwood. Senator kaine. Thank you, mr. Chair, vice chair, and members of the committee. This is an honor. One of my favorite things to do is bring talented virginians who are committed to the body before the council, and ms. Elwood is such an individual. Im just going to warn you doing this in front of my senior senator and also the only alexandria native makes me feel a little bit nervous. And some of you need to know, the nonvirginians need to know, ms. Elwood lives down the street from senator warner and on that score mark, will you take your Christmas Lights down . That was a joke. Actually she has trick or treated at senator warners house in the first test of her discretion as an intel professional will be not revealing his costumes that shes seen over the years. As i said its always rewarding. I know all of us feel this way about our states that we have deep talent pools of wonderful people that are in Public Service and they dont get the thanks they deserve, the appreciation they deserve. But bringing somebody before this committee or others who is willing to serve in a really important position does give me a real sense of pride. I think that people who arrive here are the creatures of their experience and so frequently that experience begins with an upbringing in Lessons Learned through kids, teachers, grandparents, counselors, or other mentors. And with ms. Elwood thats no exception. She had a foundation in family that really laid the groundwork for her Public Service career. Her father the late general Edwin Simmons served in world war ii, korea and vietnam as a United States marine and his legacy continues. In the marine corps today. One of the buildings in quanitco is named after her dad and her mother was a dedicated Public Servant as well working and traveling the world in the Foreign Service before settling in northern virginia. Courtneys been a path breaker in her career. She was in the first class of a high school in fairfax west Potomac High School that was formed through the merger of two very competitive high schools, and this first class had to create new traditions and brings folks that had at least on the Athletic Field been rivals before. And then she went to undergrad at lee where she was in the second class of women and people say she must have been a feminist because she raised her hand. So shes been willing to be a path breaker and has had encouragement from family and professors do that. When courtney finished at wl, as was mentioned, she went to Yale Law School, and she worked with our senate colleagues, the younger senators bennett and coons, who were at Yale Law School the same time she was. Shes now worked in the Legal Profession for 20 years and the chairman went through some of her experience serving as a clerk in the Fourth Circuit, serving for clerk for chief justice rehnquist, counsel in the white house, the office of Vice President , the department of justice, and also know many of courtneys law partners in private practice well, and its a private firm that is filled with people who are very public spirited, democrats and republicans, they appreciate those who are public spirited. And i know courtney has absorbed that lesson from them as well. Courtney will, i know, talk about her family. Her husband john is here, the two boys ages 15 and 12 live in alexandria, theyre in school today. But ill just conclude and say that so much of what we do depends upon the talent of the people that we bring into these very, very difficult positions. And with courtney elwood, you have somebody of a sterling professional background but more importantly for purposes of this position with a sterling reputation for integrity that is necessary in the cia general counsel position. Its my honor to present her to the committee. And as i said to the chairman, i have a bill marked up in the health committee. Usually my bills go better when im not there, but i probably should at least go up to make sure that thats okay. So i hope youll excuse me so i can head upstairs. Tim, thank you. You are excused and if you would shepard my bill through. His is being marked up as well. Thank you so much. I was hoping wed have a chance to question senator kaine. I would second that. I think id prefer do that in closed session. Ms. Elwood, would you please stand and raise your right hand . Do you solemnly swear to give this committee the truth, the full truth, and nothing but the truth so help you god . I do, sir. Please be seated. Courtney, before we move to your statement, id like to ask you to answer five questions that the committee poses to each nominee who appears before us. They require just a simple yes or no answer for the record. Do you agree to appear before the committee here or in any other venue when youre invited . Yes, sir. If confirmed, do you agree to send officials from your office to appear before the committee and designated staff when invited . Yes, sir. Do you agree to provide documents or any other materials requested by the committee in order for it for us to carry out our oversight function and legislative responsibilities . Yes, consistent with the law. Will you both ensure that your office and your staff provide such materials to the committee when requested . Yes, consistent with the law. Do you agree to inform and fully brief to the fullest extent possible all members of this committee of intelligence activities and covert action rather than only the chair and the vice chair . Again, consistent with the law, yes, sir. Thank you very much. Well now proceed to your Opening Statement after which ill recognize members by seniority for up to five minutes of questions. Ms. Elwood, welcome and the floor is yours. Thank you. Chairman burr, vice chairman warner, members of the committee. It is an honor to appear before you as the nominee to be general counsel of the Central Intelligence agency. I want to thank President Trump and director pompeo for their trust and confidence in me. I also want to thank senator kaine for that nice introduction. It was a great privilege and pleasure to meet not just one but both of my home state senators as part of this process. Id like to use this opportunity to tell you a little bit more about me and what i view as essential qualifications for a cia general counsel. I come from a National Security family. As senator kaine alluded, my father devoted his life to the marine corps and to this country. He spent 36 years in uniform seeing active combat in world war ii, korea, and vietnam. There is little doubt that good intelligence kept him and his men alive during those years. He would later write about the remarkably good intelligence brought by bold foreign agents during his fight at the chosen reservoir. When dad returned home from vietnam in 1971, he formed the marine corps history division, which he led for 24 years. He was a prolific author of military histories and he supported the work of many other military historians. He did so because he believed there were lessons to be learned from the great achievements and the mistakes of u. S. Warfare, mistakes that future generations must not forget. My mother, in her own way, was no less brave and tough than her marine husband. She overcame poverty and more than her share of lifes adversities to have a career in the Foreign Service before she married and raised our family. The lessons around our Kitchen Table were about personal responsibility, honor, and valor. We were taught to adhere to our principles, even if it comes at great personal or professional sacrifice. We were taught there is a clear difference between right and wrong, and we heard stories about americas place in this world as a force for good. If my parents were alive today, they would take great pride in my being considered for this position. It is thanks to them that i believe i have some of the necessary qualifications. Chairman burr has spoken eloquently of the first prerequisite, unwavering integrity. In addressing director pompeos fitness for his position, chairman burr rightly observed that because the cia is an agency that works in the shadows, it requires a leader to be unwavering in integrity, who will ensure that the organization operates lawfully, ethically, and morally. I believe the same holds true for its general counsel. I hope and believe that people who know me well would tell you that im a person of integrity. I certainly have lived my life with that goal at the forefront of my mind. A se