It is always a balancing act between a directors access to the president and the need to protect CIAs sensitive equities, said John Sipher, a former senior CIA official who also served in Russia. Pompeo clearly has a more difficult challenge in maintaining that balance than his predecessors given the obvious concerns with this presidents unique personality, obsession with charges against him, lack of knowledge and tendency to take impulsive action.
Pompeo has shown a willingness to handle political assignments for the White House. Earlier this year, he and other officials were enlisted to make calls to news organizations speaking on the condition of anonymity to dispute a New York Times article about contacts between Russians and individuals tied to the Trump campaign. Pompeo has never publicly acknowledged his involvement in that effort.
He has also declined to address whether he was approached by Trump earlier this year as other top intelligence officials were to publicly deny the existence of any evidence of collusion with Russia or to intervene with then-FBI Director James B. Comey to urge the FBI to back off its investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Pompeo has, by all accounts, a closer relationship with Trump than others who did field such requests, including Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats and National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers.
Pompeo was exposed to Trumps wrath over the Russia investigation on at least one occasion, officials said. He was among those present for a meeting at the White House earlier this year when Trump began complaining about the probe and, in front of Pompeo and others, asked what could be done about it.
