Kamala Harris is a strong but measured supporter of CIA, FBI, Law Enforcement
by Jeff Stein
Little would change for U.S. intelligence should Kamala Harris win the Democratic nomination for president and prevail in the November elections. President Biden, wracked by plunging polls and mounting pressure from Democratic Party leaders and donors to drop out of the race, announced Sunday afternooon on social media that he was dropping his pursuit of a second term and endorsed Harris to succeed him.
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| President Joe Biden walks with Vice President Kamala Harris along the West Colonnade of the White House, Friday, May 26, 2023, to the Oval Office. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz). The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons |
Harris, a former prosector, has been a strong but measured supporter of American intelligence agencies and their critical role in national security from her time as a U.S. Senator from California through her three and a half years as vice president. But she has also underscored the importance of ensuring the agencies operate with integrity, transparency, and accountability, according to her record. Harris has also highlighted the need for oversight to prevent abuses of power and to protect civil liberties.
“As a former member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, she has been involved in ensuring that covert operations are conducted within the bounds of the law and with respect for human rights,” according to an accurate ChatGPT summary of her record. “Harris has advocated for transparency and has called for measures to prevent abuses of power in covert operations. She believes that while these operations are essential for protecting the country, they must be balanced with the protection of civil liberties and ethical standards.”
Harris won plaudits for her private interrogations of government officials during her stint on the Senate Intelligence Committee—even from Republicans, according to a 2019 Buzzfeed story.
“Harris, who has used her skills as a prosecutor to climb the ranks of the establishment, has used those same skills to great effect on the committee, according to her Senate colleagues — setting herself apart as an incisive interrogator. Behind the closed doors of the committee, she is mostly a bipartisan actor, focused on information gathering rather than scoring political points, senators told BuzzFeed News.”
Harris has also supported rules encouraging safety and transparency on the development of artificial intelligence tools.
“When government agencies use AI tools, we will now require them to verify that those tools do not endanger the rights and safety of the American people,” Harris told reporters last November. “President Biden and I are requiring that every year, U.S. government agencies publish online a list of their AI systems, an assessment of the risks those systems might pose, and how those risks are being managed.”
Unlike some who have used the memberships on the secrative intelligence committees, especially the House, to score cheap political points, Harris remained discrete during her time on the Hill, sources say, lodging her criticisms of intelligence officials or Republican adversaries in private.
That practice continued during her vice presidency, with a major exception: Attacks on the FBI by Donald Trump and his supporters following its 2022 raid on his Mar-a-Lago compound to retrieve unprotected classified documents.
“I will say, as a former prosecutor, but as a citizen of our nation, any attacks on law enforcement are completely unacceptable,” Harris told reporters aboard Air Force Two on Aug. 13, 2022. “And any so-called leader who engages in rhetoric that in any way suggests that law enforcement should be exposed to that kind of danger is irresponsible and can result in dangerous activities.” A deranged man had just been fatally shot after trying to breach an FBI building in Cincinnati.
“It’s just highly irresponsible of anyone who calls themselves a leader and certainly anyone who represents the United States of America to engage in rhetoric for the sake of some political objective that can result in harm to law enforcement officers and agents,” Harris added.
The Democratic nomination is techncally wide open as a result of Biden’s withdrawal, but at least one strong putative candidate, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, announced immediately Sunday she would not run. Another, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, had previously said he would not challenge Harris.
Harris faces an uphill climb to beat Trump, however, if she gets the nod. Before Biden’s announcement Sunday, her poll ratings had sunk about as low as Biden’s in general and vis-a-vis Trump. That could change, of course, as she gets out on the stump with a relieved and rejuvenated Democratic Party machine behind her. But which way, of course, cannot be foreseen. Political pundits have knocked Harris for less-than-stellar speeches and pronouncements, especially while carrying out a difficult assignment of touting her boss’s much criticized southern border initiatives.
One thing she’ll be sure to make clear during her 100-day sprint: She and Trump could not be further apart on respect for the CIA, FBI and other U.S. intelligence agencies, which her Republican rival and many of his key supporters have called part of a “deep state” cabal out to get him.
In her statement accepting Biden’s endorsement, Harris promised to do “everything in my power to unite the Democratic party—and unite our nation—to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda.”
Jeff Stein is the editor-in-chief of SpyTalk, a newsletter covering U.S. intelligence, defense and foreign policy, on the Substack platform. Previously, he was the SpyTalk columnist (and national security correspondent) at Newsweek, and before that, the SpyTalk blogger at The Washington Post.
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