Pompeo mocks microwave surveillance claims

CIA Director Mike Pompeo on Thursday mocked those who fear intelligence officials conduct surveillance through microwaves, saying the agency tries to ignore such claims.

While White House counselor Kellyanne Conway suffered blowback last month when she suggested microwaves could be deployed as surveillance devices, the CIA said later Thursday that Pompeo was not directly referencing Conway's controversial comments.


In his first public remarks since being sworn in to lead the agency, Pompeo hailed the staff he now leads, describing them as “talented, committed patriots” who chose “a life of discretion and impact for a career in service to their country.”

“These officers, like me, have sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution. They’ve signed secrecy agreements,” he said in an address at the Center for Strategic & International Studies. “They quietly go about their work and try not to get too worked up over the headlines, including the fanciful notion that they spy on their fellow citizens via microwave ovens.”

Conway, who in defense of President Donald Trump last month suggested to a New Jersey newspaper that former President Barack Obama’s administration may have relied on “microwaves that turn into cameras” to spy on the Trump campaign inside Trump Tower.

“You can surveil someone through their phones, certainly through their television sets — any number of ways,” she said, including a microwave. “We know this is a fact of modern life.”

Conway’s much-criticized comment apparently referred to unverified documents published by WikiLeaks, an organization Pompeo railed against Thursday for leaking U.S. secrets in its own self-interest. The documents detailed the agency’s surveillance tactics, including using household electronics such as TVs, computers and cellphones to surveil their owners.

Conway later distanced herself from the way her comments were portrayed. White House press secretary Sean Spicer claimed Conway’s remark was “in jest,” and Conway blasted people in Washington for being “humorless” and unable to take a joke.

Pompeo on Thursday also appeared to undercut the president’s explosive, unsubstantiated claim that Obama surveilled Trump Tower before the election.

Clearing up, he said, what the CIA doesn’t do, Pompeo stressed that it’s a foreign intelligence agency — emphasis on “foreign.”

“We focus on collecting information about foreign governments, foreign terrorist organizations and the like — not Americans,” Pompeo said, broadly referencing rules that protect Americans’ privacy. “To take just one important example, CIA is legally prohibited from spying on people through electronic surveillance in the United States. We’re not tapping anyone’s phone in my hometown of Wichita.”

A large portion of his remarks, however, were clearly aimed at leakers, such as Julian Assange and his WikiLeaks organization. Lamenting that CIA staff isn’t “at liberty to stand up to these false narratives and explain our mission to the American people,” Pompeo said it was up to him.

Morning Cybersecurity A daily briefing on politics and cybersecurity — weekday mornings, in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

“The false narratives that increasingly define our public discourse cannot be ignored,” Pompeo said. “There are fictions out there that demean and distort the work and achievements of the CIA and the intelligence community more broadly. And in the absence of a vocal rebuttal, these voices, ones that proclaim treason to be public advocacy, gain a gravity that they do not deserve. It’s time to call these voices out.”

“First and foremost, we should note that the intelligence organizations engage solely in foreign espionage,” he continued. “We steal secrets from our foreign adversaries, hostile entities and terrorist organizations — and we’re damn proud of it.”

CLARIFICATION: An earlier version of the story stated that Pompeo jabbed at Conway in his remarks. The story has been updated to reflect the CIA denying that Pompeo was speaking about Conway.