Pence on peacemaking mission says ‘thank you’ to CIA

WASHINGTON: Vice-President Mike Pence sought to improve the Trump administration’s vexed relationship with America’s spies Wednesday, during a peace making trip to CIA headquarters.

Visiting the agency’s facility at Langley, just outside Washington, Pence got classified briefings from senior official, but also had a less covert mission.

“I’m also here to pay a debt of gratitude, and to say those two words that the CIA simply doesn’t hear enough: Thank you,” he said according to prepared remarks to spooks, seen by AFP.

Trump’s derision of the ‘deep state’, his slips in revealing classified information and his dismissal of intelligence about Russia’s involvement in his election have soured relations between the White House and America’s most high profile spy agency.

Trump, having once compared the CIA to the Nazis, visited the agency’s headquarters in the first days of his administration.

He thanked the spies for their service, but also prompted fury by boasting about himself in front of a wall of stars that commemorate officers killed in the line of duty.

Pence took a different tone, launching into a paean about the agency’s storied history from the World War II Office of Strategic Services, through the Cold War to the today and the fight against what he called ‘radical Islamic terrorism’.

“You, and the thousands of men and women you direct and work with on a daily basis, are essential to America’s security,” he said.

“The President and I see the fruits of your labor every day, in our briefings, in the deliberations over policy, in the discussions over breaking events. — AFP