美国国家公共电台 NPR For CIA Nominee Mike Pompeo, 'Not A Good Situation To Inherit'

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: 

And now to another of Donald Trump's cabinet picks who might have a tough time managing his new agency staff. His name is Mike Pompeo, and the president-elect has tapped him to lead the CIA. He's a Republican congressman¹ from Kansas. And if he's confirmed, he'll find himself trying to bridge a trust gap between the CIA and a president who has openly attacked the country's largest intelligence agency, even before coming into office. NPR's Mary Louise Kelly reports.

MARY LOUISE KELLY, BYLINE²: Mike Pompeo is no stranger to Russian intrigue³. After graduating first in his class from West Point, back in 1986, he headed to Europe where, according to his official bio, he served as a cavalry⁴ officer, patrolling the Iron Curtain before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Since his election to Congress six years ago, Pompeo has carved a reputation for taking hard-line positions. Here he is on C-SPAN back in February, talking about the former NSA contractor⁵, Edward Snowden.

(SOUNDBITE OF C-SPAN BROADCAST)

MIKE POMPEO: He should be brought back from Russia and given due process. And I think the proper outcome would be that he would be given a death sentence.

KELLY: Then there's Iran and the nuclear deal. The current CIA director, John Brennan, recently told the BBC that tearing up that deal would be, quote, "the height of folly⁶."

(SOUNDBITE OF BBC BROADCAST)

JOHN BRENNAN: I think it would be disastrous⁷. It really would. For one administration to tear up an agreement that a previous administration made would be almost unprecedented⁸.

KELLY: Cut to Mike Pompeo. The day before his CIA nomination⁹ was publicly announced, he tweeted, I look forward to rolling back this disastrous deal. Then there's Benghazi.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

POMPEO: Ambassador Stevens did not have your personal email address. We have established that.

HILLARY CLINTON: Yes, that's right.

KELLY: That's Pompeo, a Harvard-trained lawyer, grilling¹⁰ Hillary Clinton during hearings investigating the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

POMPEO: Did he have your fax number?

CLINTON: He had the fax number of the State Department.

POMPEO: Did he have your home address?

KELLY: After that congressional investigation¹¹ found no evidence of wrongdoing by Clinton, Pompeo and one other Republican wrote their own 48-page addendum¹² to the official report, alleging¹³ a cover-up and harshly criticizing Clinton. So here's the question. How might Pompeo handle the leap from the partisan¹⁴ knife fights of Capitol Hill to the challenge of running an agency that is supposed to operate above the political fray¹⁵? Jane Harman spent 18 years in Congress. She was the top Democrat¹⁶ on the House Intelligence Committee. Harman says Pompeo will have to change roles.

JANE HARMAN: He's been in the politician role. Now he's going to be in the speak-truth-to-power role. And he should be asked about his views in confirmation¹⁷ hearings. I'm sure he will be, you know, among other things. The head of the CIA has to go dark.

KELLY: Meaning has to stay out of the headlines, which is definitely not where the CIA currently finds itself. Three Senate committees now say they will investigate Russian cyber hacks¹⁸ and why the CIA has concluded the motive¹⁹ for them was to elect Pompeo's soon-to-be boss.

JOHN MCLAUGHLIN: This is not a good situation for a CIA director to inherit. On the other hand, welcome to the CIA director's world.

KELLY: That's John McLaughlin, who knows that world firsthand having served as acting²⁰ director of the agency.

MCLAUGHLIN: CIA director is almost always dealing²¹ with some kind of controversy²². This one's bigger than the average one. And it comes on top of all of the other things he's going to have to do.

KELLY: Such as unraveling the war in Syria, says McLaughlin, or destroying ISIS.

MCLAUGHLIN: Anyone moving from Capitol Hill to CIA is crossing a sort of Rubicon because the mission of the agency is to look at events in the world dispassionately, I would say even clinically, and then to step back and let the policymakers decide what they wish to do with that.

KELLY: There are hints that Pompeo may already be beginning that transition, taking steps towards going dark in preparation for his confirmation hearing. He has laid low since being nominated, not a single interview. This past weekend, as the controversy over the CIA and Russia erupted into a full-blown political and media frenzy²³, Pompeo was tweeting about a Santa's village. He's still a Kansas congressman, remember. And the actress Kirstie Alley²⁴ has built a snowy tableau²⁵ in the front yard of her Wichita house. Looks great, @kirstiealley, wrote Pompeo. He hasn't tweeted since. Mary Louise Kelly, NPR News, Washington.

1 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 intrigue   

vt.激起兴趣，迷住；vi.耍阴谋；n.阴谋，密谋

参考例句：

• Court officials will intrigue against the royal family.法院官员将密谋反对皇室。
• The royal palace was filled with intrigue.皇宫中充满了勾心斗角。

4 cavalry   

n.骑兵；轻装甲部队

参考例句：

• We were taken in flank by a troop of cavalry. 我们翼侧受到一队骑兵的袭击。
• The enemy cavalry rode our men down. 敌人的骑兵撞倒了我们的人。

5 contractor   

n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌

参考例句：

• The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
• The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样，有几分要看地势而定。

6 folly   

n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话

参考例句：

• Learn wisdom by the folly of others.从别人的愚蠢行动中学到智慧。
• Events proved the folly of such calculations.事情的进展证明了这种估计是愚蠢的。

7 disastrous   

adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的

参考例句：

• The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.暴雨成灾。
• Her investment had disastrous consequences.She lost everything she owned.她的投资结果很惨，血本无归。

8 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

9 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

10 grilling   

v.烧烤( grill的现在分词 )；拷问，盘问

参考例句：

• The minister faced a tough grilling at today's press conference. 部长在今天的记者招待会上受到了严厉的盘问。
• He's grilling out there in the midday sun. 他在外面让中午火辣辣的太阳炙烤着。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

12 addendum   

n.补充，附录

参考例句：

• This is an addendum to the book.这是本书的附录。
• Six parts and one addendum are separated in the paper.论文由六章和一个附录组成。

13 alleging   

断言，宣称，辩解( allege的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• His reputation was blemished by a newspaper article alleging he'd evaded his taxes. 由于报上一篇文章声称他曾逃税，他的名誉受到损害。
• This our Peeress declined as unnecessary, alleging that her cousin Thornhill's recommendation would be sufficient. 那位贵人不肯，还说不必，只要有她老表唐希尔保荐就够了。

14 partisan   

adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒

参考例句：

• In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中，他们忘掉一切党派之争。
• The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。

15 fray   

v.争吵；打斗；磨损，磨破；n.吵架；打斗

参考例句：

• Why should you get involved in their fray?你为什么要介入他们的争吵呢？
• Tempers began to fray in the hot weather.大热天脾气烦燥。

16 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

17 confirmation   

n.证实，确认，批准

参考例句：

• We are waiting for confirmation of the news.我们正在等待证实那个消息。
• We need confirmation in writing before we can send your order out.给你们发送订购的货物之前，我们需要书面确认。

18 hacks   

黑客

参考例句：

• But there are hacks who take advantage of people like Teddy. 但有些无赖会占类似泰迪的人的便宜。 来自电影对白
• I want those two hacks back here, right now. 我要那两个雇工回到这儿，现在就回。 来自互联网

19 motive   

n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的

参考例句：

• The police could not find a motive for the murder.警察不能找到谋杀的动机。
• He had some motive in telling this fable.他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

20 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

21 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

22 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

23 frenzy   

n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动

参考例句：

• He was able to work the young students up into a frenzy.他能激起青年学生的狂热。
• They were singing in a frenzy of joy.他们欣喜若狂地高声歌唱。

24 alley   

n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路

参考例句：

• We live in the same alley.我们住在同一条小巷里。
• The blind alley ended in a brick wall.这条死胡同的尽头是砖墙。

25 tableau   

n.画面，活人画（舞台上活人扮的静态画面）

参考例句：

• The movie was a tableau of a soldier's life.这部电影的画面生动地描绘了军人的生活。
• History is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes.历史不过是由罪恶和灾难构成的静止舞台造型罢了。