--- title: CIA Chief Mike Pompeo Warns Russia Will Target Midterm Polls description: Speaking with the BBC, CIA director Mike Pompeo said he "fully expects" Russia to attempt to disrupt the U.S. midterm elections in November canonical: https://time.com/5124313/cia-mike-pompeo-russia-midterm-elections/ author: Eli Meixler article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-01-30T03:42:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T19:04:02.874Z article:section: Politics og:title: CIA Director Mike Pompeo Warns Russia Will Target Midterms og:description: The CIA chief said he "fully expects" Russia to attempt to disrupt the elections og:url: https://time.com/5124313/cia-mike-pompeo-russia-midterm-elections/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6816eb5a512e0cab/6988f9ece76ad2d867630d09/rtx4jdqb.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4986 og:image:height: 2805 og:image:alt: FILE PHOTO: CIA Director Pompeo speaks at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: CIA Director Mike Pompeo Warns Russia Will Target Midterms twitter:description: The CIA chief said he "fully expects" Russia to attempt to disrupt the elections twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6816eb5a512e0cab/6988f9ece76ad2d867630d09/rtx4jdqb.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # CIA Director Mike Pompeo Says He 'Fully Expects' Russia Will Try to Interfere in U.S. Midterms > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Eli Meixler](https://time.com/author/eli/) ## Eli Meixler Jan 30, 2018 3:42 AM UTC  CIA Director Mike Pompeo at "Intelligence Beyond 2018," in Washington, Jan. 23, 2018. CIA Director Mike Pompeo at "Intelligence Beyond 2018," in Washington, Jan. 23, 2018.Leah Millis—Reuters by [Eli Meixler](https://time.com/author/eli/) ## Eli Meixler Jan 30, 2018 3:42 AM UTC CIA director Mike Pompeo warned that Russia will [likely target ](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42864372)the U.S. midterm elections later this year in an interview with the BBC. Speaking with the BBC’s Gordon Corera at the CIA’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia, Pompeo said he has “every expectation” that Russia will attempt to disrupt the U.S. midterms in November. He said that Russian intelligence agencies have continued in their attempts at subversion in Europe and the U.S., according to the BBC. “The Russians have been at this a long time, and I fully expect they’ll continue to be at it,” said Pompeo, referring to Russian disinformation campaigns. But Pompeo added that he was “confident” that the midterm would not be compromised by Russian interference, and would be “free and fair.” “We will push back in a way that is sufficiently robust, that the impact they have on our election won’t be great,” he said. A former congressman from Kansas, Pompeo was [sworn in](http://time.com/4576939/mike-pompeo-cia-donald-trump-what-to-know/) as President Donald Trump’s CIA director last January. **Read more**: [_Inside Russia’s Social Media War on America_](http://time.com/4783932/inside-russia-social-media-war-america/) Concern over [Russia’s role ](http://time.com/4783932/inside-russia-social-media-war-america/)in the 2016 presidential election, believed to have extended to [voter database hacking](http://time.com/4828306/russian-hacking-election-widespread-private-data/), has triggered investigations by special counsel Robert Mueller and various congressional committees that have [hung over](http://time.com/5006962/trumps-mueller-problem/) the first year of Trump’s presidency. Pompeo also referenced the security threat posed by North Korea and its leader Kim Jong Un, predicting that Kim would be capable of targeting the U.S. with nuclear weapons “in a matter of a handful of months.” North Korea [tested](http://time.com/5040388/north-korea-icbm-missile-launch-mainland-us/) its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile yet in November, which North Korean state media boasted put the entire continental U.S. [in range](http://time.com/5040388/north-korea-icbm-missile-launch-mainland-us/). Experts have questioned whether North Korea’s missiles are capable of surviving atmospheric reentry to be [able to deliver ](http://time.com/4694840/north-korea-nuclear-missile-america/)a nuclear warhead. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5124313/cia-mike-pompeo-russia-midterm-elections/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5124313/cia-mike-pompeo-russia-midterm-elections/"},"headline":"CIA Director Mike Pompeo Says He 'Fully Expects' Russia Will Try to Interfere in U.S. Midterms","datePublished":"2018-01-30T03:42:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T19:04:02.874Z","description":"\"The Russians have been at this a long time, and I fully expect they’ll continue to be at it,\" Pompeo said","url":"https://time.com/5124313/cia-mike-pompeo-russia-midterm-elections/","keywords":["intelligence","Mike Pompeo","onetime","overnight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6816eb5a512e0cab/6988f9ece76ad2d867630d09/rtx4jdqb.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eli Meixler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/eli/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6816eb5a512e0cab/6988f9ece76ad2d867630d09/rtx4jdqb.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"FILE PHOTO: CIA Director Pompeo speaks at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington","caption":"FILE PHOTO: CIA Director Pompeo speaks at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington","creditText":"Leah Millis—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/intelligence/","name":"intelligence"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5124313/cia-mike-pompeo-russia-midterm-elections/","name":"CIA Director Mike Pompeo Says He 'Fully Expects' Russia Will Try to Interfere in U.S. Midterms"}}]}] ```