CIA Director Mike Pompeo is being kept under supervision by members of his own agency, according to a report Thursday.
Current and former officials told The Washington Post that while Pompeo, a former GOP congressman from Kansas, has taken direct command of the Counterintelligence Mission Center, the unit is also keeping close tabs on him. The department, which helped kick start the federal investigation into possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign, is particularly concerned about Pompeo’s willingness to downplay Russia’s role in interfering in the 2016 presidential election.
“People have to watch him,” an anonymous official told the Post. “It’s almost as if he can’t resist the impulse to be political.”
Multiple U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. When asked in July whether he supports those findings, Pompeo said, “Of course,” adding, “And the one before that, and the one before that.”
While the center pursues leads on the Kremlin that could factor into special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, officials told the Post there is no evidence of Pompeo’s actively working to impede their operations. But concern about a possible attempt in the future remains.
A former CIA official said that some people in the agency are concerned “that if you were passing on something too dicey [to Pompeo] he would go to the White House with it.”
CIA spokesman Ryan Trapani told the Post that these assertions of possible abuse of Pompeo’s position are “ridiculous.”
Dean Boyd, director, CIA Office of Public Affairs, echoed that sentiment. He told the Washington Examiner that it is the FBI and the special counsel who are leading the federal probe into Russia right now, not the CIA.
“Furthermore, he said, “CIA’s updated Attorney General guidelines state clearly that the CIA is not authorized to and shall not engage in any intelligence activity, including dissemination of information to the Executive Office of the President, for the purpose of affecting the political process in the United States.”
Boyd also said that Pompeo’s decision to have CIMC report directly to him was made to send a signal to the CIA workforce and former intelligence officers who might leak sensitive information.
Pompeo “is serious about protecting the Agency, its officers, and operations,” Boyd said.
