Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Thomas E. Perez speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice in Washington D.C. December 21, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Benjamin Myers
Washington (CNN) — His confirmation as the new FBI director seemingly secure, James Comey gave a master class Tuesday on agreeing with his Senate questioners while mostly avoiding firm commitments on pressing issues of national security and law enforcement that he will face.
Time after time, Comey responded to Senate Judiciary Committee members by saying he lacked sufficient information to offer a detailed answer.
He repeatedly said he agreed with specific views or positions declared by senators on sensitive issues such as water-boarding and government surveillance programs, but also made it clear that he was unable to state how he would handle any specific case or situation before he actually faced it.
“I know this will be a hard job,” said the 52-year-old Comey, a former deputy attorney general in the Bush administration who also spent recent years in the private sector. “I’m sure that things will go wrong and I will make mistakes.”
President Barack Obama nominated Comey for the 10-year term to succeed Robert Mueller as head of the FBI, and both Republicans and Democrats indicated Tuesday he would easily win Senate approval.
Comey pledged to lead an independent FBI, free of association from any party or political ideology, and he followed the lead of senators who asked him about high-profile issues, agreeing for example that water-boarding is torture and not “the type of thing we ought to be doing as Americans.”
At one point, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California read a disturbing description of how detainees on hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay get force-fed through tubes inserted in their noses. She said the practice should be stopped and asked Comey to comment.
“What you’re describing, I frankly wouldn’t want done to me,” he said, but added that he didn’t know enough about the situation to offer an opinion.
Other Democrats praised Comey for his well-publicized opposition to domestic surveillance programs of the Bush administration in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
A bedside showdown with White House officials in 2004, in which Comey helped convince the hospitalized Attorney General John Ashcroft to refuse to extend the Bush-era programs without modification, was praised by panel members on Tuesday.
However, when asked by committee chairman Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, about the recent disclosure of classified details on how the government collects domestic phone records for possible court-approved investigation, Comey avoided a direct answer.
“I’m not familiar with the details of the current programs,” he said. “Obviously, I haven’t been cleared for anything like that, and I’ve been out of government for eight years. I do know as a general matter that the collection of metadata and analysis of metadata is a valuable tool in counter-terrorism.”
Later, Comey said his understanding of the safeguards in the program, including special federal courts that must approve investigations of the phone metadata, “sounded reasonable to me, but I don’t know all the information.”
“He’s probably as good as we’re going to get,” five-term Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama told The Decatur Daily Herald about Hagel.
Unless any new, damaging information on Hagel emerges before an expected Senate vote on Tuesday, Hagel has Shelby’s vote, spokesman Jonathan Graffeo told the Associated Press.
Shelby is the third Republican to announce his support for Hagel, joining Sens. Thad Cochran of Mississippi and Mike Johanns of Nebraska.
If confirmed, Hagel, the former two-term Nebraska senator, would succeed Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Panetta is returning to California after four years as CIA director and then as head of the Pentagon.
Last week, Senate Republicans filibustered a vote on Hagel’s nomination last week, forcing Democrats to take up the issue after senators return from recess next week.
Meanwhile, the 15 GOP senators called on Obama to withdraw Hagel’s nomination, saying it would be “unprecedented,” since so many Republicans opposed it. The letter came after Shelby’s announcement.
“Over the last half-century, no secretary of defense has been confirmed and taken office with more than three senators voting against him,” the senators wrote in a letter that was quoted by The New York Times. “The occupant of this critical office should be someone whose candidacy is neither controversial or divisive.”
Joining Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn of Texas in signing the letter were Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott of South Carolina; Roger Wicker of Mississippi; David Vitter of Louisiana; Ted Cruz of Texas; Mike Lee of Utah; Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania; Marco Rubio of Florida; Dan Coats of Indiana; Ron Johnson of Wisconsin; James E. Risch of Idaho; John Barrasso of Wyoming; and Jim Inhofe and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma.
“Senator Hagel’s performance at his confirmation hearing was deeply concerning, leading to serious doubts about his basic competence to meet the substantial demands of the office,” they said in the letter.
But Sen. John McCain of Arizona did not sign the letter. While he opposes Hagel’s nomination — calling him unqualified for the position — the former GOP presidential candidate has said he would allow a final vote on the nomination.
Graham also has said he would back a vote on Hagel’s nomination.
White House spokesman Jay Carney on Thursday complained that the letter demonstrated that Republicans had put politics ahead of national security. He pointed out that the administration wants Hagel to be part of decisions on the size of the U.S. force in Afghanistan as American and coalition forces wind down combat operations.
“This waste of time is not just meaningless political posturing because we firmly believe that Sen. Hagel will be confirmed. The waste of time is of consequence,” Carney said, the Associated Press reports.
The Senate also is holding up the nomination of John Brennan to be director of the Central Intelligence Agency, as both Republicans and Democrats seek more information about the U.S. policy on the use of drones.
Hagel and Brennan would join Secretary of State John Kerry in Obama’s new national security team.
Hagel is expected to get all 55 Democratic votes and the backing of the three Republicans. Two other GOP members, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, voted last week to allow the nomination to proceed.
They are expected to do the same next week, giving Hagel the requisite 60 votes out of 100 necessary to end a filibuster, the Associated Press reports.
A vote on confirmation, with only a majority necessary, could occur as early as Wednesday, according to the Associated Press.
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