CIA director says Trump finds it "unacceptable" for N. Korea to have warhead that can reach U.S.
CIA Director Mike Pompeo said Sunday that President Trump's "fire and fury" warning to North Korea last week did not represent a new "red line" drawn by the president.
"No, I don't think so at all," Pompeo told host John Dickerson in an interview on CBS's "Face the Nation."
"In fact, this administration has done a fine job of not drawing red lines that we're not prepared to enforce," Pompeo added.
- Analysis: Why China is unlikely to step up on North Korea
- What are U.S. non-military options to deal with North Korea?
- U.S. military options in standoff with nuclear-armed North Korea
The CIA director said President Trump was doing something "very effective" by communicating clearly to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un -- and to the world, including China and others who can influence the outcome of the nuclear standoff.
Mr. Trump, Pompeo said, has made it "very clear" that the U.S. finds it "unacceptable for a rogue leader like Kim Jong Un to have the capacity, a ballistic missile with a warhead, that has integrated and fully deliverable to the United States, and to hold America and the world at risk. He finds that unacceptable and he is simply not going to permit it to happen."
Pompeo dismissed reports that North Korea's nuclear and missile program are moving faster than previously thought.
"That's actually not true," he said. "It's not moving faster than policymakers knew."
Pompeo said that the U.S. was, "not at an imminent risk of an attack taking place today" from North Korea.
"It's not something that is imminent and the American people should know that this administration is doing everything within its power, the president has enabled the intelligence community, the Department of Defense, to be sure that we're protecting America from this threat."
Pompeo also added that the goal, from the administration's standpoint, remains a "denuclearized" Korean peninsula.
