Mike Pompeo, seen here in 2011, said Thursday that the CIA is "going to become a much more vicious agency." (Photo: Gage Skidmore/flickr/cc)
Under Trump, Brags Mike Pompeo, CIA Will Be 'Much More Vicious Agency'
Trump "has promised that he will have our backs," says CIA head
According to Mike Pompeo, the agency he leads--which has supported coups across the globe, engaged in targeted killings, and led a detention and torture program--has not been nasty enough.
Speaking Thursday at a Foundation for Defense of Democracies forum, the CIA director, who has signaled suport for torture, said "we've now laid out a strategy for how we're going to execute our strategy with incredible vigor. We're going to become a much more vicious agency in ensuring that we are delivering this work. We are going to go to the hardest places with some of the hardest people and of our organization to crush it."
President Donald Trump, he said, "has promised that he will have our backs and that he will resource us."
Addressing the threat posed by Kim Jong-un, Pompeo said the North Korean leader's "end-state... is the continued capacity to go to sleep in a really nice bed in Pyongyang every night."
He said "we ought to behave as if we are on the cusp of them achieving [their] objective" of hitting the U.S. with a nuclear capability. Pompeo also said there should be focus on "the enormous conventional weapon systems put in the hands of this man, and the other elements of their nuclear program and other delivery technologies of those nuclear weapon systems."
Asked by a Financial Times reporter what would happen if Kim Jong-un "kicked the bucket for whatever reason," Pompeo said, "you know, given the history of the CIA, I'm just not going to talk about that. Someone might think there was a coincidence if, you know, there was an accident," he said to laughter from the crowd. "It's just not fruitful. We have a clear U.S. policy. It is an effort to diplomatically and economically challenge the North Korean regime in such a way that they won't get to that end-state."
He also said section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act "was skewed by Edward Snowden," adding that he's "very hopeful that Congress will renew" the surveillance authority, which is set to sunset at the end of the year unless Congress renews it. Digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation, meanwhile, has called it a "key legal linchpin for the National Security Agency's vast Internet surveillance program."
Urgent. It's never been this bad.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission from the outset was simple. To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It’s never been this bad out there. And it’s never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed and doing some of its best and most important work, the threats we face are intensifying. Right now, with just three days to go in our Spring Campaign, we're falling short of our make-or-break goal. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Can you make a gift right now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? There is no backup plan or rainy day fund. There is only you. —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
According to Mike Pompeo, the agency he leads--which has supported coups across the globe, engaged in targeted killings, and led a detention and torture program--has not been nasty enough.
Speaking Thursday at a Foundation for Defense of Democracies forum, the CIA director, who has signaled suport for torture, said "we've now laid out a strategy for how we're going to execute our strategy with incredible vigor. We're going to become a much more vicious agency in ensuring that we are delivering this work. We are going to go to the hardest places with some of the hardest people and of our organization to crush it."
President Donald Trump, he said, "has promised that he will have our backs and that he will resource us."
Addressing the threat posed by Kim Jong-un, Pompeo said the North Korean leader's "end-state... is the continued capacity to go to sleep in a really nice bed in Pyongyang every night."
He said "we ought to behave as if we are on the cusp of them achieving [their] objective" of hitting the U.S. with a nuclear capability. Pompeo also said there should be focus on "the enormous conventional weapon systems put in the hands of this man, and the other elements of their nuclear program and other delivery technologies of those nuclear weapon systems."
Asked by a Financial Times reporter what would happen if Kim Jong-un "kicked the bucket for whatever reason," Pompeo said, "you know, given the history of the CIA, I'm just not going to talk about that. Someone might think there was a coincidence if, you know, there was an accident," he said to laughter from the crowd. "It's just not fruitful. We have a clear U.S. policy. It is an effort to diplomatically and economically challenge the North Korean regime in such a way that they won't get to that end-state."
He also said section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act "was skewed by Edward Snowden," adding that he's "very hopeful that Congress will renew" the surveillance authority, which is set to sunset at the end of the year unless Congress renews it. Digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation, meanwhile, has called it a "key legal linchpin for the National Security Agency's vast Internet surveillance program."
According to Mike Pompeo, the agency he leads--which has supported coups across the globe, engaged in targeted killings, and led a detention and torture program--has not been nasty enough.
Speaking Thursday at a Foundation for Defense of Democracies forum, the CIA director, who has signaled suport for torture, said "we've now laid out a strategy for how we're going to execute our strategy with incredible vigor. We're going to become a much more vicious agency in ensuring that we are delivering this work. We are going to go to the hardest places with some of the hardest people and of our organization to crush it."
President Donald Trump, he said, "has promised that he will have our backs and that he will resource us."
Addressing the threat posed by Kim Jong-un, Pompeo said the North Korean leader's "end-state... is the continued capacity to go to sleep in a really nice bed in Pyongyang every night."
He said "we ought to behave as if we are on the cusp of them achieving [their] objective" of hitting the U.S. with a nuclear capability. Pompeo also said there should be focus on "the enormous conventional weapon systems put in the hands of this man, and the other elements of their nuclear program and other delivery technologies of those nuclear weapon systems."
Asked by a Financial Times reporter what would happen if Kim Jong-un "kicked the bucket for whatever reason," Pompeo said, "you know, given the history of the CIA, I'm just not going to talk about that. Someone might think there was a coincidence if, you know, there was an accident," he said to laughter from the crowd. "It's just not fruitful. We have a clear U.S. policy. It is an effort to diplomatically and economically challenge the North Korean regime in such a way that they won't get to that end-state."
He also said section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act "was skewed by Edward Snowden," adding that he's "very hopeful that Congress will renew" the surveillance authority, which is set to sunset at the end of the year unless Congress renews it. Digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation, meanwhile, has called it a "key legal linchpin for the National Security Agency's vast Internet surveillance program."