[applause] thank you. I really get applause when i come out. My name is john henry. That weo the director have standing room only and i said lets not wait 15 minutes to watch the clock, lets get going. Lets to do that. Typical of his character, he is always getting added. Thank you. When we had like this, we starta little safety announcement. This, we start with a safety announcement. ,m responsible for your safety so follow my instructions of i ask you to do anything. Im not worried about the wreck about the director, he has guys with guns. If i have to ask you to leave the room, the exits are behind us. The stairs going down or a twoyear. , wille to lefthand turns go over to the courtyard of national geographic, i will order ice cream and we will sing a song of praise for our salvation. [laughter] just follow me if i have asked you to do something. We are honored that director pompeo agree to be here. Said he people sent was going to be here, i was like, what the hell. It is an enormous opportunity to hear the director. We are very fortunate as a country that director pompeo is willing to serve at this time. His life has been about service. He was the highest ranking cadet at west point when he graduated , and his entire career has been about service. He has been in and out of government and the private sector. Fortunately for us, he is willing to help us with being director of the cia. Please welcome director pompeo. [applause] director pompeo good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for coming. I did take this place, it is special. I want to thank you for hosting me today. I am honored to make one of the first public remarks i have made in over 10 weeks as director of the cia. 10 weeks, i have it all figured out. [laughter] director pompeo we have bill webster here. Thank you for being here. [applause] it is an honor to be here and i am a little bit nervous. I thought it would start by telling you a story. Bright,story about a welleducated young man. He was described as industrious, intelligent, and likeable, if inclined toward impulsiveness and impatience. At some point, he became disillusioned with intelligence work and angry at his government. He left the government and decided to devote himself to what he regarded as public advocacy, exposing the Intelligence Officers and operations he had sworn to keep secret. He appealed to Agency Employees to send him leads, tips and suggestions. He wrote in a widely circulated bulletin, we are particularly anxious to receive, anonymously if you desire, copies of Us Diplomatic lists and us embassy staff. That man was philip agee, one of the founding members of the magazine counterspy, which in its first issue in 1973 called for the exposure of cia undercover operatives overseas. In its september 1974 issue, counterspy publicly identified Richard Welch as the cia chief of station in athens. Later, richards home address and phone number were outed in the press in greece. In december 1975, richard and his wife were returning home from a Christmas Party in athens. When he got out of his car to open the gate in front of his house, Richard Welch was assassinated by a greek terrorist cell. At the time of his death, richard was the highestranking cia officer killed in the line of duty. Richard led a rich and honorable life, one that is celebrated with a star on the agencys memorial wall. He is buried at Arlington National cemetery and remains dearly remembered by his family and colleagues. Meanwhile, agee propped up his dwindling celebrity with an occasional stunt, including a playboy interview. He eventually settled down as the privileged guest of an authoritarian regime, one that would have put him in front of a firing squad without a Second Thought had he betrayed their secrets as he betrayed ours. Today, there are still plenty of philip agees in the world, and the harm the inflict on u. S. Institutions and personnel is just as serious today as it was back then. They dont all come from the Intelligence Community, share the same background, or use precisely the same tactics as agee, but they are soulmates. Like him, they choose to see themselves in a romantic light, as heroes above the law, saviors of our free and open society. They cling to this fiction, even though their disclosures often inflict irreparable harm on both individuals and democratic governments, pleasing despots along the way. The one thing they dont share with agee is the need for a publisher. All they require now is a smart phone and internet access. In todays digital environment, they can disseminate stolen u. S. Secrets instantly around the globe to terrorists, dictators, hackers, and anyone else seeking to do us harm. Our nations first line of defense against complicated and fastmoving threats like these is the u. S. Intelligence community. And feel deeply privileged frankly still a bit amazed that as cia director, i get to be a part of this great group of men and women. Im the son of a machinist from orange county, california. I had never been east of the mississippi until college, spending most of my summers working on the family farm in winfield, kansas. To be entrusted with leading the greatest Intelligence Organization in the world is something that i still cant wrap my head around. And just as i did at west point, i feel that i stand on the shoulders of giants, atop a long tradition of courage, ingenuity, and dedication. After i was nominated for this post by President Trump, i talked with nearly every living director. They spoke of the need to call things as you see them, and of the apolitical nature of the job. Above all, they spoke of their admiration and respect for our workforce. From what ive seen so far, they were spot on in their assessment. I am today surrounded by talented and committed patriots. These are men and women who signed up for a life of discretion and impact, for a career in service to their country. Theseicers like me officers like me have sworn an oath to uphold the constitution. They have signed secrecy agreements. 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. But they are not at liberty to stand up to these false narratives and explain our mission to the American People. Fortunately, i am. In my first meeting with cias workforce, i promised that i would serve them and the American People, both at home and abroad, with the same passion and vigor that i displayed as a tank platoon leader in the army, a Business Owner in kansas, and a congressman. That is the reason i chose to speak here today. As a policy, we at cia do not comment on the accuracy of purported intelligence documents posted online. In keeping with that policy, i will not specifically comment on the authenticity or provenance of recent disclosures. But the false narratives that increasingly define our Public Discourse cannot be ignored. There are fictions out there that demean and distort the work and achievements of the cia and Intelligence Community more broadly. And in the absence of a vocal voices, onesse that proclaim treason to be public advocacy, gain a gravity they do not deserve. It is time to call these voices out. The men and women of cia deserve a real defense, as does our nation. I intend to do that. First and foremost, we are an Intelligence Organization that engages in foreign espionage. We steal secrets from foreign adversaries, hostile entities, and terrorist organizations. We are proud of it. We analyze this intelligence so that our government can better understand the adversaries we face in a challenging and dangerous world. We make no apologies for doing that. Its hard stuff and we go at it hard. Because when it comes to overseas threats, cia is aggressive in our pursuit of the information we need to help safeguard our country. We utilize our whole toolkit, fully employing the authorities and capabilities that congress, the courts, and the executive branch have deemed lawful and appropriate, and consistent with our american ideals. We do these things because its our job. Its what we signed up to do. And if we didnt, wed have a tough time justifying our budget to the american taxpayer. As a ceo of a Security Research firm recently noted, cia appears to be doing exactly what we pay them to do, exploit specific targets with limited attacks to support our national interest. Our mission is simple in concept yet difficult in practice. We work to provide the best information possible to the president and his administration so that they can advance our National Interests and protect our country. It is a mission that cia has carried out for years, quietly and effectively. Our accomplishments often remain classified, but a few special ones are known to the world. The cia is a crucial player in the Global Campaign against Nuclear Proliferation and continue to be today. Weve helped unravel the Nuclear Smuggling network used by a. Q. Khan, assisted in exposing a covert Nuclear Facility in syria, and gathered intelligence with the help of our liaison partners that persuaded libya to abandon its Nuclear Program. Cia has also been at the cutting edge of incredible technological innovation throughout our history. Reflect efforts that allowed us to surveil activities in rival states that were otherwise closed to us. Weve pushed back the boundaries of the possible in ways that have benefitted both the security and welfare of the american public. More recently, cia investment in a Technology Venture in 2003 led to the development of what we know today as google earth. My first few months on the job have only reaffirmed for me that this innovative spirit is very much alive and well. So id now like to make clear what cia doesnt do. We are a foreign intelligence agency. We focus on collecting information about foreign governments, foreign terrorist organizations and the like, not americans. A number of specific rules keep us centered on that mission and protect the privacy of our fellow americans. To take just one important example, cia is legally prohibited from spying on people through electronic surveillance in the United States. Were not tapping anyones phone in wichita. I know there will always be skeptics. We need to build trust with them. But i also know firsthand, from what i saw as a member of a Congressional Oversight Committee and from what i see now as director, that cia takes its legal restrictions and responsibilities with the utmost seriousness. We have stringent regulations, an engaged and Robust Office of the general counsel, and an empowered and independent office of Inspector General to make sure of that. Moreover, regardless of what you see on the silver screen, we do not pursue covert action on a whim without approval or accountability. There is a comprehensive process that starts with the president and consists of many levels of legal and policy review and policy review. Let me assure you, when it comes to covert action, there is oversight and accountability every step of the way. I inherited an agency that has a deep respect for the rule of law and for the constitution. Fiber ofedded in the the people at the cia. Despite fictional depictions meant to sell books or boxoffice tickets, we are not an untethered or rogue agency. So yes, while we have some truly awesome capabilities at our disposal, our officers do not operate in areas or against targets that are rightfully and legally offlimits to us. At our core, we are an organization committed to uncovering the truth and getting it right. We devote ourselves to protecting our trade. We work hard to maintain truly global coverage. We spend hours upon hours collecting information, and poring over reports and data. We also admit to making mistakes. In fact, because cia is accountable to the free and open society we help defend, the times in which we have failed to live up to the high standards our fellow citizens have been catalogued over the years, even by our own government. These mistakes are public, to an extent that i doubt any other nation could ever match. But it is always our intention and duty to get it right. Reasons is one of the why we at cia find the celebration of entities like wikileaks to be both perplexing and deeply troubling. Because while we do our best to quietly collect information on those who pose very real threats to our country, individuals such as Julian Assange and Edward Snowden seek to use that information to make a name for themselves. As long as they make a splash, they care nothing about the lives they put at risk or the damage they cause to national security. Wikileaks walks like a Hostile Intelligence Service and talks like a Hostile Intelligence Service. It has encouraged its followers to find jobs at cia in order to obtain intelligence. It directed Chelsea Manning in her theft of specific secret information. And it overwhelmingly focuses on the United States, while seeking support from antidemocratic countries and organizations. It is time to call out wikileaks for what it really is, a nonstate Hostile Intelligence Service often abetted by state actors like russia. In january of this year, our Intelligence Community determined that Russian Military military intelligence had used wikileaks to release data of us victims that the gru had obtained through Cyber Operations against the Democratic National committee. And the report also found that russias primary propaganda outlet, rt, has actively collaborated with wikileaks. Now, for those of you who read the editorial page of the and i have ast, feeling that many of you do, yesterday you would have seen a piece of sophistry penned by mr. Assange. You would have read a convoluted mass of words wherein assange compared himself to thomas jefferson, dwight eisenhower, and the pulitzer prizewinning work of legitimate news organizations such as New York Times and the washington post. One can only imagine the absurd comparisons that the original draft contained. Assange claims to harbor an overwhelming admiration for both america and the idea of america. But i assure you that this man knows nothing of america and our ideals. He knows nothing of our third president , whose clarion call for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness continue to inspire us and the world. And he knows nothing of our 34th president , a hero from my very own kansas, who helped to liberate europe from fascists and guided america through the early years of the cold war. No, i am quite confident that had assange been around in the 1930s and 1940s and 1950s, he would have found himself on the wrong side of history. We know this because assange and his ilk make common cause with dictators today. Yes, they try unsuccessfully to cloak themselves and their actions in the language of liberty and privacy, but in reality, they champion nothing but their own celebrity. Their currency is click bait. Their moral compass, nonexistent. Their mission, personal selfaggrandizement through the destruction of western values. They do not care about the causes and people they claim to represent. If they did, they would focus instead on the 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. Clearly, these individuals are not especially burdened by conscience. We know this, for example, because assange has been more than cavalier in disclosing the personal information of scores of innocent citizens around the globe. We know this because the damage they have done to the security and safety of the free world is tangible. The examples are numerous. When snowden absconded to the comfortable clutches of russian intelligence, his treachery directly harmed a wide range of u. S. Intelligence and military operations. Despite what he claims, he is no whistleblower. True whistleblowers use the wellestablished and discreet processes in place to voice grievances, they do not put american lives at risk. In fact, a colleague of ours at nsa recently explained that more than a thousand four and targets, people, groups and organizations, more than a thousand of them changed or tried to change how they communicated as a result of the snowden disclosures. That number is staggering. And the bottom line is that it became harder for us in the Intelligence Community to keep americans safe. It became harder to monitor the communications of terrorist organizations that are bent on bringing bloodshed to our shores. Snowdens disclosures helped these groups find ways to hide themselves in the crowded digital forest. Even in those cases where we were able to regain our ability to collect, the damage was already done. We work in a business with budgetary and time constraints. The effort to get back access that we previously possessed meant that we had less time to look for new threats. As for assange, his actions have attracted a devoted following among some of our most determined enemies. Following a recent wikileaks disclosure, and al qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula member posted a comment online thanking wikileaks for providing a means to fight america in a way that aqap had not previously envisioned. Aqap re