A lawmaker known for favoring the National Security Agency will head the House Intelligence Committee in the 114th Congress that begins next year, as House Speaker John Boehner picked California Rep. Devin Nunes for the position.

As chair of the secretive House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Nunes would have oversight over 17 military and national intelligence programs, including the CIA, and other clandestine activities.

Nunes has called the Obama administration’s foreign policy a “complete disaster,” supports torture, voted repeatedly for surveillance and intelligence gathering without oversight or warrant, and voted to extend the Patriot Act.

RT