The underlying theme of Wednesday's Senate Foreign Relations hearing with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo -- on the GOP side of the dais -- was that good deterrence policies are being implemented on cyber and other threats, regardless of controversies over President Trump's equivocal statements over Russia.
Chairman Bob Corker (R-TN), Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and to some extent Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) challenged Pompeo on the impact of Trump's public musings about his own intelligence services and Russian President Putin and other aspects of Trump's approach.
But even Corker saluted the administration's policy work on deterrence.
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'The Editor Reports' is a new feature from Inside Cybersecurity intended to identify themes emerging from our news coverage and pose questions about the direction of evolving cybersecurity policies. Email comments to cmitchell@iwpnews.com.
“They are putting in place strong policies,” Corker said in response to a question from Inside Cybersecurity. “The things [Pompeo] said about policy are true. It's the confusion at the top” that's worrisome.
“Really it's the confusion that comes from the White House,” Corker told reporters at another point. “These statements from the White House matter.”
Corker engaged in an occasionally tense back and forth with Pompeo, starting with an opening statement in which he expressed “serious doubts” about the president's approach to diplomacy.
“In many ways the policies being put in place are stronger than ever, I agree with you,” Corker told Pompeo during the hearing. “It's the president that causes concern."
He said Trump “purposely caused the American people to doubt” NATO, among other examples, adding, “Why does he do those things? Is there some strategy in creating doubt in the minds of U.S. senators?”
Pompeo pushed back, citing “the toughest sanctions” ever on Russia and a massive U.S. military buildup as directly hurting Putin, while also noting that the Trump administration has blacklisted tech products from Russia-based Kaspersky Lab and expelled numerous Russian “diplomats.”
“I notice you are not responding to what I'm saying,” Corker said. “It is the president's statements that create concern.”
Corker told reporters afterward that Pompeo “acquitted himself well,” although he said there was little new insight into what was said between Trump and Putin at their private meeting on July 16.
But most other committee Republicans strongly praised the administration's approach to a wide range of foreign policy issues, and most followed Pompeo's lead in praising the president himself as the one who demanded and shaped these policies.
As in the 2017 Comey hearing ...
There were similarities to another high-profile hearing on Capitol Hill: former FBI Director James Comey's June 2017 appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee. In that case, most committee Republicans hammered on one point: that there was no allegation of legal transgressions by the president.
The GOP point this time was a little less dramatic but still highly significant: The Trump administration is on the right track with its deterrence policy and should be supported in Congress.
It was left to committee Democrats to press Pompeo for details on the Trump-Putin Helsinki meeting, to minimal effect. Pompeo stressed that Trump made clear there would be serious consequences for continuing to interfere in U.S. elections and that U.S. sanctions would remain in place.
Ranking member Robert Menendez (D-NJ) sparred repeatedly with Pompeo over what was said in Helsinki and whether Trump laid out the consequences for further election interference. “Putin knows the consequences,” Pompeo said during the testy exchange. The secretary offered a terse “yessir” when Menendez asked if he would work with lawmakers on additional sanctions.
Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) asked whether Trump's “financial dealings” with Russia were coloring U.S. policy. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) said the administration hasn't provided convincing evidence that Trump didn't discuss relaxing sanctions with Putin.
“I really don't believe you know what happened in the president's two-hour meeting with Putin,” Booker charged.
“I've been here almost three hours and you're making a political soliloquy,” a combative Pompeo responded.
That combativeness, and the litany of policy moves recited by the secretary, seemed to be exactly what most of the Senate Republicans were hoping for from this important congressional engagement with a top Trump official.
Chairman Corker on Tuesday had framed the hearing as a first step in determining additional policy moves -- such as the need for more sanctions -- aimed at curbing Russia's aggressive behavior in cyberspace and in the physical world.
But, obviously, it was also a first step in giving Republicans political cover after what many in both parties saw as the president's disastrous performance in Helsinki. -- Charlie Mitchell, editor, Inside Cybersecurity