Dachsie
16th April 2017, 12:19 PM
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/cia-director-mike-pompeo-vows-crackdown-on-demons-at-wikileaks/article/2620247
CIA Director Mike Pompeo vows crackdown on 'demons' at Wikileaks
by Joel Gehrke | Apr 13, 2017, 4:26 PM
CIA Director Mike Pompeo dubbed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and his colleagues "demons" who can expect to become the target of a sharp crackdown from the United States.
"I'm confident this administration will pursue them with great vigor," Pompeo said Thursday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Pompeo, who vacated a congressional seat to take his new post under President Trump, used his first public remarks as CIA director to rehabilitate the spy agency in light of an array of difficult headlines and embarrassments. That included criticism of the CIA's capabilities from the Trump team; he dismissed the "fanciful notion," once raised by White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway, that the CIA can spy on Americans through microwaves. But Pompeo was especially determined to discredit Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and other purveyors of American secrets.
"It's time to call out Wikileaks for what it really is: a non-state, hostile intelligence service, often abetted by state actors like Russia," Pompeo said. "Their mission: personal self-aggrandizement through the destruction of Western values. They do not care about the causes of the people they claim to represent. If they did, they would focus instead on autocratic regimes in this world that actually suppress free speech and dissent. Instead, they choose to exploit the legitimate secrets of democratic governments, which has — so far — proven to be a much safer approach than provoking a tyrant."
The former Kansas Republican lawmaker invoked his past role as a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, a job that entailed investigating the intelligence community, to emphasize that the CIA does not spy on Americans. "We focus on collecting information about foreign governments," Pompeo said, before rebutting implicitly a charge made by Trump himself. "CIA is legally prohibited from spying people through electronic surveillance in the United States. We're not tapping anyone's phone in my hometown of Wichita."
Pompeo rooted his denunciation of Assange in Wikileaks' role in the 2016 cyber attacks against the Democratic party, as well as their the troves of diplomatic cables and intelligence secrets released over the years. Pompeo declined to talk about Wikileaks latest revelations, a document dump it billed as revealing the CIA's tools for hacking into Apple iPhones and other devices made in Europe and the United States. But he took pains to argue that Americans should not regard Assange as a defender of civil liberties. "Ignorance or misplaced idealism is no longer an acceptable excuse for lionizing these demons," Pompeo said.
Daniel Chaitin contributed
_____________
Time for another Pompeii for Mr. Pompeo.
8988
John Martin's 19th century painting The Destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum
CIA Director Mike Pompeo vows crackdown on 'demons' at Wikileaks
by Joel Gehrke | Apr 13, 2017, 4:26 PM
CIA Director Mike Pompeo dubbed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and his colleagues "demons" who can expect to become the target of a sharp crackdown from the United States.
"I'm confident this administration will pursue them with great vigor," Pompeo said Thursday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Pompeo, who vacated a congressional seat to take his new post under President Trump, used his first public remarks as CIA director to rehabilitate the spy agency in light of an array of difficult headlines and embarrassments. That included criticism of the CIA's capabilities from the Trump team; he dismissed the "fanciful notion," once raised by White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway, that the CIA can spy on Americans through microwaves. But Pompeo was especially determined to discredit Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and other purveyors of American secrets.
"It's time to call out Wikileaks for what it really is: a non-state, hostile intelligence service, often abetted by state actors like Russia," Pompeo said. "Their mission: personal self-aggrandizement through the destruction of Western values. They do not care about the causes of the people they claim to represent. If they did, they would focus instead on autocratic regimes in this world that actually suppress free speech and dissent. Instead, they choose to exploit the legitimate secrets of democratic governments, which has — so far — proven to be a much safer approach than provoking a tyrant."
The former Kansas Republican lawmaker invoked his past role as a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, a job that entailed investigating the intelligence community, to emphasize that the CIA does not spy on Americans. "We focus on collecting information about foreign governments," Pompeo said, before rebutting implicitly a charge made by Trump himself. "CIA is legally prohibited from spying people through electronic surveillance in the United States. We're not tapping anyone's phone in my hometown of Wichita."
Pompeo rooted his denunciation of Assange in Wikileaks' role in the 2016 cyber attacks against the Democratic party, as well as their the troves of diplomatic cables and intelligence secrets released over the years. Pompeo declined to talk about Wikileaks latest revelations, a document dump it billed as revealing the CIA's tools for hacking into Apple iPhones and other devices made in Europe and the United States. But he took pains to argue that Americans should not regard Assange as a defender of civil liberties. "Ignorance or misplaced idealism is no longer an acceptable excuse for lionizing these demons," Pompeo said.
Daniel Chaitin contributed
_____________
Time for another Pompeii for Mr. Pompeo.
8988
John Martin's 19th century painting The Destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum