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thisfinecrewConfirmation Hearing for Rep. Michael R. Pompeo (R - KS), Nominee for Director of Central Intelligence Agency
When: UPDATED - now confirmed as Thursday 12 January from 10:00amWednesday 11 January from 10:00am
Note: The senate.gov list of upcoming hearings (which has fallen over around half the times I've tried to access it...) has this down for 10:00am on Thursday 12 January, but the press release from the committee, linked above, which seems to be only information about the hearing on the committee's own website, says Wednesday 11 January.
Committee Members: (as at 6 Jan) Chairman: Richard Burr (R - NC), Vice-Chairman: Mark Warner (D - VA), Senator James E. Risch (R - ID), Senator Marco Rubio (R - FL), Senator Susan M. Collins (R - ME), Senator Roy Blunt (R - MO), Senator James Lankford (R - OK), Senator Tom Cotton (R - AR), Senator John Cornyn (R - TX), Senator Dianne Feinstein (D - CA), Senator Ron Wyden (D - OR), Senator Martin Heinrich (D - NM), Senator Angus King (I - ME), Senator Joe Manchin (D - WV), Senator Kamala D, Harris (D - CA), Majority Leader: Senator Mitch McConnell (R - KY), Chairman, Senate Armed Services Committee: Senator John McCain, John (R - AZ), Minority Leader: Senator Charles Schumer (D - NY), Ranking Member, Senate Armed Services Committee: Senator Jack Reed (D - RI)
What the committee should be concerned about: Rep. Pompeo is a hard-right Republican, described as one of the first wave of so-called tea party lawmakers. He serves on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, was a member of the House Select Committee on Benghazi. and is a close ally of Vice-President Elect Pence.
Pompeo is strongly partisan. He has typically toed the party line on security and intelligence issues. Where he has disagreed, it has generally been to take more extreme and inflammatory positions. For example, as a member of the Benghazi committee, he argued committee chairman Trey Gowdy "did not go far enough in his report on Clinton earlier this year". He has been a vocal critic of the the agreement the United States and five world powers struck with Iran in 2015 to significantly limit Tehran’s nuclear ability for more than a decade in return for lifting international oil and financial sanctions.
He also has a poor track record in dealing with minorities. During his election campaign in 2010 he apparently failed to effectively discipline a campaign staffer who used Twitter to promoted an article that referered to his Indian-American opponent as a "Turban Topper", while in 2013, he alleged that members of Muslim American communities do not speak out enough against terror attacks are are therefore "potentially complicit" in past and future attacks.
He has also shown a lack of regard for civil liberties, human rights and international treaty obligations. The New York Times says he has "advocated a return to the bulk collection of Americans’ domestic calling records — which Congress restricted through legislation last year — and he has denounced President Obama’s decision in 2009 to close C.I.A. black-site prisons and also to require government interrogators to strictly adhere to the rules of the Army Field Manual."
Suggested script for calling representatives:"Hi, my name is ________, and I'm a constituent of the Senator. I want to let the Senator know that I object to Representative Mike Pompeo as the next Director of the C.I.A. because, during his time as a member of the Benghazi and House Intelligence Committees, he's shown he can't make the kind of measured, evidence-based judgments that the Director of the C.I.A. needs to make. He's also made numerous statements demonstrating he doesn't believe the C.I.A. should adhere to U.S. laws or international treaties, or respect human rights and civil liberties. Representative Pompeo's partisan approach and lack of judgment make him unsuited to leading an intelligence agency and he should therefore not be our next Director of the C.I.A.
Please use the comments to suggest more reasons why the committee should reject the nomination and to suggest amendments to the calling script.
When: UPDATED - now confirmed as Thursday 12 January from 10:00am
Note: The senate.gov list of upcoming hearings (which has fallen over around half the times I've tried to access it...) has this down for 10:00am on Thursday 12 January, but the press release from the committee, linked above, which seems to be only information about the hearing on the committee's own website, says Wednesday 11 January.
Committee Members: (as at 6 Jan) Chairman: Richard Burr (R - NC), Vice-Chairman: Mark Warner (D - VA), Senator James E. Risch (R - ID), Senator Marco Rubio (R - FL), Senator Susan M. Collins (R - ME), Senator Roy Blunt (R - MO), Senator James Lankford (R - OK), Senator Tom Cotton (R - AR), Senator John Cornyn (R - TX), Senator Dianne Feinstein (D - CA), Senator Ron Wyden (D - OR), Senator Martin Heinrich (D - NM), Senator Angus King (I - ME), Senator Joe Manchin (D - WV), Senator Kamala D, Harris (D - CA), Majority Leader: Senator Mitch McConnell (R - KY), Chairman, Senate Armed Services Committee: Senator John McCain, John (R - AZ), Minority Leader: Senator Charles Schumer (D - NY), Ranking Member, Senate Armed Services Committee: Senator Jack Reed (D - RI)
What the committee should be concerned about: Rep. Pompeo is a hard-right Republican, described as one of the first wave of so-called tea party lawmakers. He serves on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, was a member of the House Select Committee on Benghazi. and is a close ally of Vice-President Elect Pence.
Pompeo is strongly partisan. He has typically toed the party line on security and intelligence issues. Where he has disagreed, it has generally been to take more extreme and inflammatory positions. For example, as a member of the Benghazi committee, he argued committee chairman Trey Gowdy "did not go far enough in his report on Clinton earlier this year". He has been a vocal critic of the the agreement the United States and five world powers struck with Iran in 2015 to significantly limit Tehran’s nuclear ability for more than a decade in return for lifting international oil and financial sanctions.
He also has a poor track record in dealing with minorities. During his election campaign in 2010 he apparently failed to effectively discipline a campaign staffer who used Twitter to promoted an article that referered to his Indian-American opponent as a "Turban Topper", while in 2013, he alleged that members of Muslim American communities do not speak out enough against terror attacks are are therefore "potentially complicit" in past and future attacks.
He has also shown a lack of regard for civil liberties, human rights and international treaty obligations. The New York Times says he has "advocated a return to the bulk collection of Americans’ domestic calling records — which Congress restricted through legislation last year — and he has denounced President Obama’s decision in 2009 to close C.I.A. black-site prisons and also to require government interrogators to strictly adhere to the rules of the Army Field Manual."
Suggested script for calling representatives:"Hi, my name is ________, and I'm a constituent of the Senator. I want to let the Senator know that I object to Representative Mike Pompeo as the next Director of the C.I.A. because, during his time as a member of the Benghazi and House Intelligence Committees, he's shown he can't make the kind of measured, evidence-based judgments that the Director of the C.I.A. needs to make. He's also made numerous statements demonstrating he doesn't believe the C.I.A. should adhere to U.S. laws or international treaties, or respect human rights and civil liberties. Representative Pompeo's partisan approach and lack of judgment make him unsuited to leading an intelligence agency and he should therefore not be our next Director of the C.I.A.
Please use the comments to suggest more reasons why the committee should reject the nomination and to suggest amendments to the calling script.
no subject
Date: 2017-01-10 06:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-01-10 08:20 pm (UTC)