The following is from Sen. Mark Warner’s office regarding his questioning this morning of Donald Trump’s nominee for CIA Director, John Ratcliffe. Also, check out the video of Sen. Warner’s remarks, as well as Ratcliffe’s responses.
Below are Vice Chairman Warner’s opening remarks as prepared for delivery:
Mr. Ratcliffe, congratulations on your impending nomination to serve as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. I appreciated the opportunity to meet with you last month and hear your views.
You previously served on the House Intelligence Committee and as the Director of National Intelligence, so you obviously have an appreciation for the work done by our intelligence community, generally, and the CIA, specifically. If confirmed, I understand you will be the first person to have served as both DNI and DCIA.
The Agency that you have been nominated to head is facing an unprecedented number of challenges, which will require great leadership.
These challenges range from the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza… competition with China, especially with respect to artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies… the persistent threat posed by international terrorist organizations… and a constant stream of cyber threats, from nation states attacking our critical infrastructure to criminal ransomware actors.
Add to this – that revolutions in technology, especially in artificial intelligence, synthetic bio, and advances in energy – require fundamental changes to how we operate.
And through it all, the very fabric of warfare is changing. National security is no longer determined just by who has the most powerful ships and tanks and planes, but also who is leading the future when it comes to technologies like AI, drones, semiconductors, and synthetic biology.
The Intelligence Community must continue to adapt to face these challenges. In particular, it must be better organized to collect on the development and use of advanced technologies by our adversaries. That’s both to understand the threats they might pose to U.S. economic and national security, but also to help civilian agencies identify key chokepoints over which the U.S. can exercise power.
During such times it is also vital that we are able to recruit and retain the best possible talent for the IC. That starts with ensuring the workforce feels valued and respected. I am very concerned that the president-elect has continued to engage in undeserved attacks upon the professional women and men of our intelligence agencies.
These comments affect the morale of these dedicated men and women, many of whom risk their lives in anonymity to protect our nation… and who do so without regard to which party is in power or who holds the office of president. Unsurprisingly, particular public comments from our leaders can have a negative impact on recruitment and retention of talent willing to serve our country.
Mr. Ratcliffe, today is your opportunity to reassure the men and women of the CIA that they need not fear reprisal for speaking truth to power. I need your commitment that you will not fire or force out CIA employees because of their perceived political views, and that you will not ask these employees to place loyalty a political figure above loyalty to country.
And, I need to hear your plan for how you will reassure the CIA workforce on these points.
Also on the personnel front, I remain concerned that we continue to hear from CIA officers who have been victims of sexual assault while at work, as well as from those suffering lasting effects from anomalous health incidents. I would like to hear your plan for ensuring that those who come forward about being hurt in the line of duty are taken seriously and provided the care and attention they deserve.
Mr. Ratcliffe, if confirmed, you will be sitting at a critical intersection between intelligence and policymaking.
Your job will be to give the president the best professional judgment of America’s intelligence experts at the CIA, even when it might be inconvenient or uncomfortable.
I need your public assurance that you will always seek to provide unbiased, unvarnished, and timely intelligence assessments to the president… to his cabinet… his advisors… and to those of us in Congress.
I need your assurance this intelligence will represent the best judgment of the CIA, regardless of political implications or views. And, though we should not need to say it out loud, I do also need your assurance you will work to appropriately protect our intelligence community’s sources and methods.
Thank you for being here. I look forward to a robust and thorough discussion.
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In his questioning of Ratcliffe, Sen. Warner tried to pin down Ratcliffe on the points he made in his opening statement. Ratcliffe mostly said words that sound (somewhat) comforting, but really didn’t commit himself to anything – whether speaking truth to power, not firing employees for political reasons, or protecting intelligence from our foreign partners.
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