Rep. Mike Pompeo promised to set aside politics and tried to smooth over rough edges with Democrats. | M. Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO Pompeo vows to set aside politics as CIA chief Conservative House lawmaker sounds wary about Russia as he prepares to guide America's largest spy agency.

As Rep. Mike Pompeo auditioned Thursday to become the director of the Central Intelligence Agency under Donald Trump, the normally bombastic Kansas Republican traded his usual partisan combativeness for an almost sedate approach while senators took their measure of him.

Pompeo's low-key demeanor before the Senate Intelligence Committee was intended to reassure skeptical Democrats that he would not skew the spy agency's analysis in order to advance the kind of agenda he championed as a GOP hardliner in the House.


"Having been a member of the House Intelligence Committee and an overseer of our nation's intelligence enterprise, I understand full well that my job, if confirmed, will be to change roles from the centrality of policymaking to information provider, " Pompeo said during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee. The CIA Director must "stay clearly on the side of intelligence collection and objective analysis of our national security challenges — presenting factual intelligence and sound judgments to policymakers, including this committee."

"I have spent the majority of my life outside the realm of politics — as a cavalry officer in the United States Army, then as a litigator, and then running two manufacturing businesses," the West Point and Harvard Law grad added. "Returning to duty requiring hard work and unerring candor is something that is in my bones."

One clear indication of Pompeo's effort to sand down some of his rough edges: a top Democrat on the committee, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, indicated he apologized to her at a recent private meeting.

"I do appreciate your apology. I take it with the sincerity with which you gave it," she said at the hearing. She didn't elaborate on what Pompeo said he regretted, but a Senate aide said it was over personal criticism Pompeo leveled at Feinstein when she was pressing for public release of an Intelligence Committee report on harsh CIA interrogation practices in the war on terror.

As he left the hearing, Pompeo ignored questions about his apology.

The sharpest exchange of the day's roughly two-hour public session came as Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a leading critic of government surveillance practices, pressed Pompeo about an op-ed he wrote urging a broadening of federal data-gathering in the war on terror.

“Congress should pass a law re-establishing collection of all metadata, and combining it with publicly available financial and lifestyle information into a comprehensive, searchable database,” Pompeo wrote in the Wall Street Journal last January.

“I’m curious what kind of information about finances and lifestyles you would not enter into this giant database,” Wyden asked.

Pompeo noted that he voted for the USA Freedom Act in 2015 that sought to ban government collection of bulk data. He insisted he was proposing keeping an eye on public webpages and social media.

“I think this committee and the American people demand that if i there is public information someone has out there on a publicly available site, I think we have that obligation, if someone’s out there on their Facebook page talking about an attack on America,” Pompeo said, adding that it would be “grossly negligent” to ignore such clues.

“That’s not what we’re talking about here. You’re talking about your interest in setting up a whole new metadata collection system,” Wyden shot back.

Much of the questioning of Pompeo Thursday focused on the extraordinary contretemps between Trump and the U.S. intelligence apparatus over allegations that Russia used a campaign of hacking to help Trump win the White House. After weeks of public skepticism about the conclusions of the CIA and other spy agencies, Trump appeared Wednesday to tepidly accept the conclusion that Russia was behind the hacks of Democratic Party organizations and activists.

Pompeo attempted something of a straddle on questions about Russia’s alleged meddling in U.S. politics, indicating he’s wary of Moscow’s intentions but that what to do in response would not be his call.

“Russia has reasserted itself aggressively, invading and occupying Ukraine, threatening Europe, and doing nothing to aid in the destruction of ISIS,” the CIA nominee said, adding that cyber vulnerabilities are being “frequently exploited” by Russia.

However, he added: “It is a policy decision as to what to do with Russia, but I understand it will be essential that the Agency provide policymakers with accurate intelligence and clear-eyed analysis of Russian activities.”

Under questioning by Feinstein, Pompeo said that there was little doubt that Russia was trying to tamper with U.S. politics and that he agrees with the intelligence community’s recent report on the subject.

“Everything I’ve seen suggests to me that the report has an analytical product that is sound....It’s pretty clear about what took place about Russia effort to hack and to have an impact on American politics,” Pompeo said. “I’m pretty clear eyed….This is very real it is growing…This was an aggressive action taken by the senior leadership inside of Russia and America has an obligation, and the CIA is part of that obligation, to protect that information.”

Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) pressed Pompeo on why he tweeted that Wikileaks release of Democratic National Committee was “proof” of impropriety on the Democrats' part.

Pompeo’s answer was vague.

“I’d have to go back and take a look at that senator, but I can assure you I have some deep understanding of WikiLeaks and I’ve never viewed it as a credible source for the United States or anyone else,” the nominee said.

Trump also appears to be seething at the CIA and others over salacious and unverified intelligence about him that made it into a classified U.S. government report on the Russian influence operation last week. The president-elect on Wednesday compared media leaks about that intelligence to the tactics used by Nazi Germany.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper called Trump Wednesday evening to try to calm that dispute, but Clapper is expected to leave office in eight days. Pompeo, if confirmed, is one of the intelligence leaders who will have to try to rebuild trust between Trump and the spy agencies.

Pompeo was also asked about vague allegations that some Trump advisers were in contact with the Russian government during the campaign. The lawmaker noted that the claims seem to be unsubstantiated, but he vowed he wouldn't allow politics to color his handling of the issue.

"I promise I will pursue the facts wherever they take us….with respect to this issue and each and every other issue as well," he said.

However, Pompeo also decried leaks about the campaign-related intelligence matters, calling them "intensely serious."

Democrats also expressed concern about whether Pompeo’s strong opposition to the Iranian nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, would color the CIA’s assessments of whether Iran was complying with it.

Pompeo acknowledged that he viewed the Obama-administration-negotiated deal as “a mistake for American national security,” but he promised an objective take from the CIA on Tehran’s behavior.

“The Iranians are professionals at cheating. While I think we have a very sound inspection regime, I worry about the fact that there are things that we do not know we do not know know," the three-term Congressman said. "I will endeavor to provide straight information to you all about progress the JCPOA has made to reducing the threat from Iranian nuclear activity and share with you when that’s not happening, as well.”

Pompeo also faced questions about the possibility of dramatic overhaul of the nation's intelligence structure under the Trump administration. Recent reports in The Intercept and the Wall Street Journal have suggested Trump is considering upending the arrangement Congress approved after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks as part of a set of reforms aimed at encouraging more collaboration and coordination among intelligence agencies.

Incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer flatly denied that Trump is planning any broad transformation, such as doing away with the director of national intelligence post created to oversee the 17-agency U.S. intelligence community. Trump has also picked a well-respected Washington figure, former Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.), to take the DNI post—a job Coats seems unlikely to have accepted in order to dismantle it.

However, the persistent tensions between Trump and the intelligence chiefs suggest the incoming president might be more open than most to shaking-up the U.S. intelligence framework.

Soon after the hearing started — and just as Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the panel's ranking Democrat, was decrying Russia's interference in the recent election, most lights and the power went out in the hearing room in the Senate Hart Building.

“I need your public assurance that you will always seek to provide unbiased, unvarnished and timely assessments and intelligence to the president, his Cabinet, his advisers, and to the Congress,” Warner said just before the lights failed. “This intelligence must represent the best judgment of the CIA, whether or not that analysis is in agreement with the views of the president or anyone else who might receive them.”

Largely in the dark, save for emergency lights, Warner went on with his statement. Soon after, Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the committee's chairman, called for a recess.

The power and lights did not immediately return, so the hearing was reconvened about a half hour later in the nearby Dirksen Building.

Pompeo was introduced Thursday by two legends in Kansas politics, Sen. Pat Roberts and former Sen. Bob Dole. Dole charmed his former colleagues, joking that he felt comfortable when the lights went out. "My eyesight is not too good, so I was perfect in the other room," he said.

"I know this man and I know he'll do a great job," Dole said of Pompeo. "He understands: no politics in the CIA. It's very, very difficult and responsible work."