Pompeo’s record on issues including mass surveillance and torture raise grave concerns
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 23, 2017
Contact: Sean Vitka
sean@demandprogress.org
Washington, DC — The following statement can be attributed to Demand Progress policy counsel Sean Vitka:
"As a member of Congress, Mike Pompeo rarely missed an opportunity to support the surveillance of innocent Americans. Now, his new role as director of the CIA underscores grave concerns all citizens should have about President Trump's ability to spy on millions of innocent people. As Senators Heinrich and Wyden have emphasized, Pompeo's statements raise the specter of scraping and purchasing information from Facebook and other third parties in order to combine it with existing mass surveillance programs — in short, outsourced mass surveillance. Based on his views, from opposing encryption to supporting torture and the surveillance of innocent people, CIA Director Pompeo simply cannot be trusted to protect Americans' constitutional rights. Indeed, his fixation on bulk surveillance suggests he will miss the real threats to this country, which come in the form of individuals, not whole communities. Going forward, it will be incumbent on the public and advocates to keep watch and work to ensure our rights are upheld under Pompeo’s tenure."
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