president-elect donald trump said friday he will nominate rep. mike pompeo (r., kan.) to be director of the central intelligence agency, which would place the former army officer and five-year member of congress at the helm of the spy agency that has been heavily involved in global counterterrorism operations since the 2001 terror attacks. name: mike pompeo age: 52 education: u.s. military academy at west point, harvard law school background: after graduating from west point, mr. pompeo served as a cavalry officer <u+201c>patrolling the iron curtain<u+201d> before the fall of the berlin wall, and he served with the 2nd squadron, 7th cavalry in the fourth infantry division, according to the biography on his congressional website . he went to harvard after he left active duty, later returning home to kansas to run two small businesses before he was elected to the house in 2010 as part of the tea-party wave. he is a member of the energy and commerce committee and the house intelligence committee, and he was a member of the special committee investigating the 2012 attacks on the diplomatic compound in benghazi, libya. outlook: mr. pompeo would take the reins of the cia as mr. trump said on the campaign trail he wanted to bring back the practice of harsh interrogation methods including waterboarding and <u+201c>a hell of a lot worse,<u+201d> as well as refilling the prison at guantanamo bay, cuba, with prisoners. those views have prompted some concern among former military officers and intelligence officials. the current cia director, john brennan, in 2014 publicly distanced the agency from its use of the controversial interrogation techniques after a scathing senate report found them to be ineffective. while in congress, mr. pompeo emerged as a staunch critic of the obama administration<u+2019>s pursuit of an agreement with iran to curb its nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions. after republicans failed to scuttle the deal, mr. pompeo became active in the push to hold iran to account for noncompliance and repeatedly has pledged to work to undo the deal. at the cia, he would have more access to secret information about iran<u+2019>s activities since the deal took effect earlier this year. messrs. pompeo and trump also would have latitude to broaden the u.s. use of targeted killings in drone strikes and the use of indefinite detention and military tribunals for those suspected of terrorism. president barack obama took steps to limit the u.s. use of these practices, but he didn<u+2019>t eliminate them outright. mr. brennan undertook a massive reorganization of the cia last year. mr. pompeo, if confirmed by the senate, would have to decide whether to preserve that system or try something else. write to felicia schwartz at felicia.schwartz@wsj.com
donald trump taps kansas rep. mike pompeo as cia director  - wsj
felicia schwartz