MSNBC Interview - Transcript
Interview
MSNBC Interview - Transcript
MSNBC INTERVIEW WITH SENATOR SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME)
SUBJECT: NATIONAL SECURITY CABINET APPOINTMENTS INTERVIEWER: ANDREA MITCHELL
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MS. MITCHELL: Only 42 days to go until the inauguration, more than a half-dozen outstanding Cabinet appointments have yet to be filled, although Barack Obama is way ahead of history in naming his Cabinet. So who will the president-elect tap to fill positions such as CIA director and National Intelligence director?
Joining us from the Capitol, Maine Senator Susan Collins, ranking member of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Welcome. Good to see you, Senator.
SEN. COLLINS: Thank you.
MS. MITCHELL: First of all, what do you think about the intelligence positions? There has been some talk -- Walter Pincus in The Washington Post talking about holding over some of the intelligence chiefs -- Michael Hayden, General Hayden. But it would seem that so far, all the signals out of Chicago are that the president-elect wants new people.
SEN. COLLINS: That does seem to be the signal that we're getting, that the president, understandably, may want to bring in his own team. I was very pleased that the president-elect has chosen to keep on Secretary Gates. I think that's important.
For the director of National Intelligence position, I think that Congresswoman Jane Harman would be a great choice for that position. She and I worked on the legislation that created the DNI position, and she certainly knows what is at stake.
MS. MITCHELL: Do you have any indication of whom they're considering and whether Jane Harman or some others, in fact, are leading the pack? Has anyone been floated to you folks up in the Senate, who have to end up confirming whoever is chosen?
SEN. COLLINS: I've talked to some members of the president- elect's team, but they have not shared their thinking with me on where they're leaning. There is a big debate within the intelligence world about whether or not the DNI position should be filled, as it is now, with an individual with military experience. So that's part of the debate that is under way currently.
MS. MITCHELL: Well, we currently have two military men in those positions, CIA and over at the director of National Intelligence. Is there some feeling among you senators that this should be a civilian post, or at least one of the two?
SEN. COLLINS: There is. And I say that with due respect for the two men who are filling the post currently. Both of them have done a very good job, and I in no way am critical of their activities. But when we envisioned the director of National Intelligence, it's someone who has a very broad view and can be a civilian leader of the intelligence community. So my personal preference as one of the authors of that legislation is that it would be better to have a civilian in charge.
MS. MITCHELL: And your view will hold a lot of weight in that.
Thank you very much, Senator Collins. Great to see you. Thanks for joining us.
SEN. COLLINS: Thank you.
END.
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