new york<u+2014>president-elect donald trump reached outside the republican establishment as he started populating his senior team, announcing friday that he would nominate sen. jeff sessions as attorney general and rep. mike pompeo as director of the central intelligence agency. mr. trump also said he planned to appoint retired lt. gen. michael flynn as his national security adviser . gen. flynn joins reince priebus, who will be chief of staff , and steve bannon, who will be chief strategist, as white house advisers who can begin working for mr. trump without senate confirmation, as is required for cabinet posts. while two prominent foreign-policy positions have yet to be decided<u+2014>secretaries of defense and state<u+2014>the selections on friday signaled mr. trump<u+2019>s intention to favor a harder-edged national-security policy and adopt a tougher stance against islamist radicals, as gen. flynn and mr. pompeo (r., kan.) have both criticized president barack obama <u+2019>s responses to terrorism. the choice of mr. sessions (r., ala.) would put one of the nation<u+2019>s sharpest critics of illegal immigration in charge of what is effectively the world<u+2019>s largest law office. meanwhile, mr. trump was considering current national security agency director adm. michael rogers to become the next director of national intelligence, two people familiar with the matter said. that move would shift the nation<u+2019>s digital and cyberwarfare leader to the country<u+2019>s most senior spy post. for defense secretary, mr. trump was considering several retired generals, people knowledgeable about the transition process said, including retired marine gen. james mattis, a former war commander who has long voiced concerns about iran as a security threat. gen. mattis is expected to visit with mr. trump in new jersey, transition officials said friday. others under consideration include sen. tom cotton (r., ark.), retired army gen. david petraeus, army gen. jack keane, former gop sen. jim talent of missouri and stephen hadley, national-security adviser under president george w. bush, transition officials said. the cia pick, mr. pompeo, was first elected to congress in 2010 as part of the tea-party movement. he would likely bring a sharp change in tone to the cia, and has been one of the harshest critics of the iran nuclear deal that the u.s. and several western countries struck with tehran last year. <u+201c>i look forward to rolling back this disastrous deal with the world<u+2019>s largest state sponsor of terrorism,<u+201d> he said on twitter on thursday. mr. trump was also scheduled to meet this weekend in bedminster, n.j., with 2012 republican presidential nominee mitt romney ; republican national committee finance chairman lew eisenberg, a potential commerce secretary; and two women in the running to head the department of education<u+2014> betsy devos, a former michigan republican party chairwoman, and michelle rhee, a former washington, d.c., public schools chancellor, according to people familiar with the matter. mr. trump<u+2019>s picks so far have rewarded loyalty from some of his earliest supporters<u+2014>mr. sessions was the first senator to endorse him<u+2014>and are mostly individuals who were at times on the outs with washington policy circles as a result of controversial opinions and statements. they also show that mr. trump isn<u+2019>t afraid to pick a controversial nominee, as they are each unapologetic about their views. mr. sessions <u+201c>is greatly admired by legal scholars and virtually everyone who knows him,<u+201d> mr. trump said. the senator has faced controversy throughout his four decades in the public eye. in 1986, president ronald reagan nominated mr. sessions for a federal court judgeship, but he wasn<u+2019>t confirmed by the senate amid accusations that he had made racist comments. mr. sessions has apologized for some of the comments he made at the time. the national association for the advancement of colored people, in a tweet on friday, criticized mr. sessions<u+2019>s nomination as <u+201c>deeply troubling, and supports an old, ugly history where civil rights were not regarded as core american values.<u+201d> incoming senate minority leader charles schumer (d., n.y.) said he was <u+201c>very concerned<u+201d> about putting mr. sessions in charge of the civil-rights division of the justice department. <u+201c>i know sen. sessions and we work out in the gym,<u+201d> mr. schumer said. <u+201c>but the fact that he is a senator does not absolve him from answering tough questions in the confirmation process.<u+201d> mr. sessions on thursday said he would <u+201c>be honored to be considered<u+201d> for a cabinet-level post. he is a former u.s. attorney who was first elected to the senate in 1996. in the past year, mr. trump has been close with mr. sessions, considering him a key adviser on a number of issues, particularly on national security and immigration. several years ago, when a bipartisan group of senators tried to hammer out a compromise bill to overhaul immigration rules, mr. sessions became one of the biggest opponents of the package. mr. sessions said the lawmakers were pursuing a bill that would allow <u+201c>amnesty<u+201d> for undocumented immigrants. the bill passed the senate, but the opposition that mr. sessions helped establish prevented it from being considered in the house. mr. sessions has served on the senate armed services, judiciary and budget committees, among others. his nomination was supported by fellow republicans, who will control the senate approval process. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell (r., ky.) on friday said, <u+201c>i look forward to the senate<u+2019>s fair and expeditious treatment of our colleague<u+2019>s forthcoming nomination.<u+201d> mr. sessions appeared with mr. trump early in the campaign, doing so at a february 2016 trump rally in madison, ala. <u+201c>i told donald trump this isn<u+2019>t a campaign, this is a movement,<u+201d> the senator told the crowd. <u+2014>gordon lubold and brent kendall contributed to this article. corrections & amplifications: sen. jeff sessions on thursday said he would be honored to be considered for a cabinet-level post. an earlier version of this article incorrectly stated he said it on monday. (nov. 18) write to michael c. bender at mike.bender@wsj.com and damian paletta at damian.paletta@wsj.com
donald trump begins filling cabinet with offers to jeff sessions, mike pompeo  - wsj
michael c. bender damian paletta