Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I oppose Mr. Pompeo's confirmation to be Director of the Central Intelligence Agency because I believe he will take the CIA in a dangerously wrong direction. America needs a CIA Director who will uphold American values by resolutely condemning torture and mass surveillance. Mr. Pompeo's last- minute attempt to walk back his opposition to torture is very disturbing and suggests the Trump administration is readying to abandon our commitment to international human rights. Second, Mr. Pompeo's enthusiasm for bringing back programs that sweep up massive amounts of Americans' private information is deeply troubling. I have no confidence that Donald Trump would sufficiently protect the private emails of Americans if he had access to them, and Mr. Pompeo's support for large-scale data collection programs is inconsistent with the bipartisan reforms of the PATRIOT Act that passed in the last Congress. Third, I am very worried that Mr. Pompeo, as CIA Director, will continue the trend of covert agencies usurping the power of the State Department and the Defense Department. Mr. Pompeo, under questioning, refused to acknowledge the longstanding precedent of diplomatic embassies having primary authority for final signoff on overseas operations. This suggests Mr. Pompeo could lead a rogue agency that will frustrate rather than aid our diplomatic objectives overseas. ____________________”