Story highlights Pete Hoekstra is a former chairman of the House Intelligence committee

He said that he would accept the position of CIA director if offered by the Trump administration

(CNN) Former US Rep Pete Hoekstra said Thursday he would accept the position of CIA director if offered to him by the incoming Trump administration, while also taking positions on waterboarding and Russia likely to inflame critics in a potential confirmation battle.

Hoekstra -- a former representative from Michigan who chaired the House Intelligence Committee from 2004-2007 -- said told CNN's Alisyn Camerota on "New Day" that he'd "take the job if Mr. Trump decided that someone with my kind of background experience is what he wanted in the job."

Asked whether he supported the use of waterboarding -- which Congress banned along with other interrogation torture techniques in 2009 -- Hoekstra hedged, at first saying that "Congress has spoken on that."

"If there was a decision to move in another direction and to perhaps do that, that would be a process that you would have to work through with Congress," he added.

"Are you personally comfortable with using waterboarding as a tactic?" Camerota followed up.

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