Donald Trump’s spymaster yesterday warned that North Korea could have the ability to hit the US with nuclear weapons in a ‘handful of months’.
Mike Pompeo, the director of the CIA, also said he wanted America to get back on its ‘front foot’ by stepping up covert action overseas – pledging to do his ‘damnest’ to steal secrets from foreign powers.
Speaking from the CIA’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia, he revealed the US President is briefed on ‘the most exquisite truth’ that the CIA has learnt almost every day, and is ‘curious’ about the facts.
In a wide-ranging interview with the BBC, he warned that he expected Russia to target the US mid-term elections later this year, but insisted the US would be ready to ‘push back’.
Speaking from the CIA’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia, Pompeo (pictured) revealed the US President is briefed on ‘the most exquisite truth’ that the CIA has learnt almost every day, and is ‘curious’ about the facts
Mr Pompeo, a Trump loyalist who was handed the job in January last year, said Kim Jong-un and North Korea’s nuclear programme were high on his agenda. Pictured: North Korea’s intermediate-range strategic ballistic rocket Hwasong-12 lifting off from the launching pad at an undisclosed location near Pyongyang last year
Pompeo said: ‘We talk about him having the ability to deliver a nuclear weapon to the United States in a matter of a handful of months.’ Pictured: Kim Jong-Un celebrating a missile launch last year
When asked about President Trump’s use of Twitter and frank language about foreign policy, he said: ‘When you see this language that the president chooses to use, there are many audiences for it… and I assure you Kim Jong-un understands the message that America is serious’
Mr Pompeo, a Trump loyalist who was handed the job in January last year, said Kim Jong-Un and North Korea’s nuclear programme were high on his agenda.
He went on: ‘We talk about him having the ability to deliver a nuclear weapon to the United States in a matter of a handful of months.
‘Our task is to have provided the intelligence to the president of the United States that will deliver to him a set of options that continue to take down that risk by non-diplomatic means.’
The President and senior officials were ‘mindful’ of the fact that all-out conflict could lead to massive destruction and loss of life, but that ‘many things were possible’ in scenarios for removing Kim Jong-Un or preventing him being able to launch nuclear missiles, he added.
When asked about President Trump’s use of Twitter and frank language about foreign policy, he said: ‘When you see this language that the president chooses to use, there are many audiences for it… and I assure you Kim Jong-Un understands the message that America is serious.’
In bullish remarks, he spelled out his vision for an unburdened and unleashed CIA, describing it as ‘the world’s finest espionage service’ in an ever-increasingly uncertain world.
Building on how he wants the CIA to operate, he told the BBC News at Ten: ‘We are going to go out there and do our damnedest to steal secrets on behalf of the American people.
In a wide-ranging interview with the BBC, he warned that he expected Russia to target the US mid-term elections later this year, but insisted the US would be ready to ‘push back’. Pictured: Russian President Vladimir Putin with Trump last year
‘And I wanted to get back on our front foot.’ Quizzed about his relationship with Trump and his capability as President, he revealed he briefs the Commander-in-Chief most days when both are in Washington DC.
He said: ‘We deliver nearly every day personally to the President the most exquisite truth that we know from the CIA.
‘He is very focused in the sense that he is curious about the facts that we present. He is curious in the sense he wants to understand why we believe them.’
He dismissed claims in the recent book ‘Fire and Fury’, which raised questions about President Trump’s abilities as leader.
‘It’s absurd. I haven’t read the book. I don’t intend to.
‘The claim that the president isn’t engaged and doesn’t have a grasp on these important issues is dangerous and false and it saddens me that someone would have taken the time to write such drivel’, he added.
He said there had been no significant diminishing of Russian attempts at subversion in Europe and the US. He also said he was concerned about subversion by Moscow in the upcoming US mid-term elections in November.
‘I have every expectation that they will continue to try and do that but I’m confident that America will be able to have a free and fair election (and) that we will push back in a way that is sufficiently robust that the impact they have on our election won’t be great’, he said.