# Mike Pompeo Michael Richard Pompeo (b. December 30, 1963) is the **former Trump I Director of Central Intelligence (January 2017 – April 2018) and 70th U.S. Secretary of State (April 2018 – January 2021)**, previously a four-term U.S. Representative from Kansas's 4th congressional district (2011-2017). Pompeo is the only person in U.S. history to have served both as CIA Director and Secretary of State in the same administration, and his four-year Trump I cabinet tenure makes him one of the longest-serving senior Trump I officials. A West Point graduate who finished first in his class (1986), Army officer, Harvard Law School graduate, and Wichita-area businessman before entering politics, Pompeo rose through the **Koch-network-adjacent** Kansas Republican infrastructure and became, in the Trump administration, the principal architect of the foreign-policy framework that included the 2018 withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA), the **maximum pressure** campaign against Iran, the January 2020 strike killing [[Qasem Soleimani]], and the normalization agreements with Gulf states known as the Abraham Accords. Pompeo matters for the KB for three reasons. First, he is the **structural architect** of Trump I foreign policy on Iran — the pressure-campaign framework, the Soleimani strike decision, and the subsequent regional realignment were substantially Pompeo's. Second, his **evangelical foreign-policy framing** — Pompeo's explicit identification as an evangelical Christian and his willingness to publicly frame U.S. policy in religious terms (including a 2019 interview suggesting that Trump might have been sent by God to save Israel from Iran) — is one of the clearest case studies in the KB of how Christian nationalist frameworks have operated inside Republican foreign-policy leadership. Third, his **post-Trump trajectory** — positioning for a 2024 presidential run that he ultimately did not enter, aligning with the Reagan Institute and Hudson Institute rather than MAGA-aligned institutions, and critical comments about Trump's post-2020 electoral claims without breaking publicly — makes him a case study in how senior Trump I Republicans have managed the party's Trump-era realignment. ## Background - Born December 30, 1963, in Orange, California; raised in Santa Ana - BS from United States Military Academy (West Point), 1986 (first in class) - Cavalry officer, 2nd Squadron, 7th Cavalry, U.S. Army (1986-1991); service in West Germany during the end of the Cold War - JD from Harvard Law School, 1994; editor of the Harvard Law Review - Co-founder of Thayer Aerospace, a Wichita-based aerospace-parts manufacturer (1996-2006) with Koch-family investment - President of Sentry International, a Wichita-based oil-and-gas industrial company (2006-2010) - U.S. Representative, Kansas 4th Congressional District (2011-2017) - Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (January 23, 2017 – April 26, 2018) - 70th United States Secretary of State (April 26, 2018 – January 20, 2021) - Distinguished Fellow, Hudson Institute (2021 – present) - Married Susan Pompeo since 2000; son Nicholas ## Congressional Tenure (2011-2017) Pompeo was elected to Congress in the 2010 Tea Party wave, defeating a Democratic incumbent in the formerly swing Kansas 4th district. His congressional career was defined by: - **Koch-network alignment**: Pompeo was one of the congressional Republicans most visibly aligned with Charles and [[David Koch]]'s political network; the Koch family had been investors in his businesses, and the [[Koch brothers]]' hometown of Wichita was in his district - **Benghazi investigation**: Pompeo served on the House Select Committee on Benghazi, becoming one of the more prominent Republican voices on the investigation of the 2012 attack and [[Hillary Clinton]]'s role as Secretary of State - **Intelligence committee work**: Service on the [[House Intelligence Committee]] provided the foundation for his subsequent CIA appointment - **Iran deal opposition**: Pompeo was among the most consistent congressional critics of the 2015 JCPOA nuclear deal with Iran, a position that anticipated his subsequent cabinet role ## CIA Director (2017-2018) Trump's first CIA Director, Pompeo was confirmed 66-32. His 15-month tenure was defined by: - **Close personal relationship with Trump**: Pompeo delivered the President's Daily Brief in person more than any recent CIA Director, reportedly becoming one of Trump's most trusted advisors - **Hard line on Iran**: Continued the anti-JCPOA framework from his congressional period - **North Korea engagement**: Pompeo made a secret Easter 2018 trip to Pyongyang, meeting Kim Jong Un — one of the structural moves that led to the June 2018 Trump-Kim Singapore summit - **Russia investigation tension**: Pompeo's tenure overlapped with the Mueller investigation; he was among Trump's most vocal defenders on Russia matters ## Secretary of State (2018-2021) Confirmed 57-42 (one of the narrower margins for a Secretary of State in modern history), Pompeo was sworn in on April 26, 2018, replacing [[Rex Tillerson]]. The State Department tenure was defined by: ### Iran Maximum Pressure Pompeo was the principal architect of the **"maximum pressure"** campaign against Iran: - **JCPOA withdrawal (May 2018)**: Trump's announcement was substantially Pompeo-authored - **Twelve demands (May 2018)**: Pompeo's speech at Heritage Foundation laying out twelve specific demands for Iran — a framework widely criticized as designed to produce rather than avoid confrontation - **Sanctions escalation**: Progressive tightening of economic sanctions, designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (April 2019) - **Soleimani strike (January 3, 2020)**: Pompeo was the most visible Cabinet advocate for the strike killing [[Qasem Soleimani]] in Baghdad; his subsequent press appearances were the administration's principal public defense of the decision ### The Abraham Accords Pompeo was a principal negotiator of the 2020 normalization agreements between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, [[Sudan]], and Morocco. The **Abraham Accords** are considered one of Trump I's most durable foreign-policy achievements and represent a significant shift in the structure of Middle East diplomacy. ### Christian Nationalist Foreign Policy Framing Pompeo drew substantial attention throughout his tenure for his willingness to frame foreign policy in explicitly religious terms. Notable examples: - March 2019 interview with [[Christian Broadcasting Network]] suggesting Trump might have been sent by God to save Israel from Iran: "As a Christian, I certainly believe that's possible" - 2019 speech at the Christians United for Israel summit - Multiple speeches linking U.S. foreign policy to evangelical Christian commitments This framing is one of the clearest documentary cases of Christian nationalist frameworks operating inside Republican foreign-policy leadership at cabinet level. ### China Hawkism Pompeo was the cabinet's most consistent China hawk, delivering a series of high-profile speeches (most notably the July 2020 Nixon Library speech) arguing that engagement with China had failed and that a new Cold War framework was necessary. The July 2020 speech is widely cited as a landmark in the U.S. rhetorical shift on China — the secretary-of-state declaration that the [[Reform and Opening Up]] engagement bet had failed, a hinge moment in the rivalry traced in the [[Chinese History Hub]]. ## Post-Trump Trajectory Pompeo left office January 20, 2021. His post-Trump positioning has been distinctive: - **Institutional affiliations**: Distinguished Fellow at Hudson Institute (2021-present); Reagan Institute affiliate; not affiliated with the more overtly MAGA-aligned Heritage Foundation despite pre-Trump Heritage ties - **January 6 response**: Pompeo was notably silent in the immediate aftermath of January 6, neither publicly condemning the attack with the intensity of some other senior officials nor publicly defending Trump's role - **2024 presidential non-candidacy**: Pompeo appeared to be positioning for a 2024 presidential run through 2021-2022 but announced in April 2023 that he would not enter the race, citing family and timing considerations - **[[Trump II]]**: Pompeo was reportedly considered for senior Trump II national security positions but was not appointed; Trump's post-election personnel decisions notably excluded many of his senior Trump I national security team including Pompeo ## Connection to the KB Ecosystem - **[[First Trump Administration]]**: One of the longest-serving senior officials; CIA Director and Secretary of State across four years. - **[[Donald Trump]]**: Close personal relationship during the first term; notably absent from Trump's inner circle in the second-term positioning. - **[[Qasem Soleimani]]**: Pompeo was the cabinet's principal advocate for and public defender of the January 2020 Baghdad strike. - **Iran maximum pressure**: Principal architect of the framework; Pompeo's Heritage Foundation twelve-demands speech is the definitive statement of the policy. - **Abraham Accords**: Principal negotiator; one of Trump I's most durable foreign-policy achievements. - **China hawkism**: The July 2020 Nixon Library speech is a landmark in the U.S. rhetorical shift on China. - **Evangelical foreign policy**: Documentary case of Christian nationalist framing in cabinet-level foreign-policy rhetoric. - **[[Koch Network]]**: Long-standing political and business relationships with the Koch family; the Kansas congressional seat is in Wichita, the Koch headquarters. - **[[Heritage Foundation]] / [[Hudson Institute]]**: Institutional homes before and after cabinet service. ## See Also - [[Donald Trump]] - [[John Bolton]] - [[Qasem Soleimani]] - [[First Trump Administration]] - [[Heritage Foundation]] - [[Hudson Institute]] - [[Koch Network]] - [[Chinese History Hub]] - [[Decoupling]] - [[Mike Pence]]