{"id":58012,"date":"2018-04-26T13:59:29","date_gmt":"2018-04-26T20:59:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.46.6.243\/?p=58012"},"modified":"2018-04-26T13:59:29","modified_gmt":"2018-04-26T20:59:29","slug":"cia-director-mike-pompeo-confirmed-as-secretary-of-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=58012","title":{"rendered":"CIA Director Mike Pompeo Confirmed as Secretary of State."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;The Senate voted to confirm Pompeo 57-42. Below is a now released photo of him in North Korea earlier in April.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-58013\" src=\"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/31344496_1659639877457072_1340191785338535936_n.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"705\" srcset=\"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/31344496_1659639877457072_1340191785338535936_n.jpg 679w, https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/31344496_1659639877457072_1340191785338535936_n-272x300.jpg 272w, https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/31344496_1659639877457072_1340191785338535936_n-570x628.jpg 570w, https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/31344496_1659639877457072_1340191785338535936_n-150x165.jpg 150w, https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/31344496_1659639877457072_1340191785338535936_n-454x500.jpg 454w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>What follows is a background piece released by the White House on April 12th&#8230;On Monday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted to recommend that Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo be confirmed as America\u2019s next Secretary of State. The committee\u2019s endorsement paves the way for a vote by the full chamber as early as this week.<\/p>\n<p>Several key Democrats have put country above party by supporting Director Pompeo\u2019s nomination. Their decisions come as editorial boards across the country have praised his invaluable mix of instincts and experience. \u201cMr. Pompeo is a West Point and Harvard Law graduate who served three terms in Congress,\u201d The Wall Street Journal\u2019s Editorial Board writes. \u201cHe has invigorated the CIA clandestine service, tried to give Mr. Trump options on North Korea, and has gained the President\u2019s trust.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Director Pompeo\u2019s qualifications have already earned bipartisan trust, as well. Just last year, the Senate voted 66-32 across party lines to confirm him as CIA Director. Any effort by Democrats to rebuke Pompeo today would be a political move designed to obstruct America\u2019s national-security operations under President Donald J. Trump.<\/p>\n<p>When Mike Pompeo gave his first public speech after taking charge of the CIA last year, national security expert Juan Zarate asked him about a recent foreign trip to Turkey and the Gulf. \u201cWhy did you go there first, and what did you hear?\u201d Zarate wondered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wanted them to know that this was an Administration that wanted them to think about [terrorism] differently and to be true partners in this defeat of terrorism in the Middle East,\u201d Director Pompeo said.<\/p>\n<p>For the past 14 months, Mike Pompeo has brought that same attitude to the CIA. The proof is in the results, which have been exemplary. When Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons in an attack against his own people last April, the CIA quickly provided President Trump with the intelligence he needed to decide to launch missile strikes against the Syrian regime.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, the CIA under Director Pompeo has been at the heart of some of the Trump Administration\u2019s biggest foreign policy accomplishments. The CIA helped preserve the integrity of North Korean sanctions, using creative, new methods to enable the interception of shipments that violate terms. The Agency also works with the Department of Defense and U.S. allies to target ISIS leadership and reduce ISIS territorial holdings\u2014now down to virtually zero percent of its former caliphate.<\/p>\n<p>Part of that success comes from proven experience. Mike Pompeo has been privy to some of America\u2019s toughest national security challenges since 2010, when he served on the House Intelligence Committee as a freshman member of Congress. Two decades earlier, he patrolled the Iron Curtain as a U.S. Cavalry officer in West Germany before the Berlin Wall fell.<\/p>\n<p>In truth, Pompeo was a leader long before he arrived in Washington. As a scholar, he graduated first in his class at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and later served as Editor of the Harvard Law Review. As an entrepreneur, he founded Thayer Aerospace, which provides components for commercial and military aircraft, and he served as its Chief Executive Officer for more than a decade.<\/p>\n<p>This storied career adds up to one certainty: Mike Pompeo would be ready to lead the State Department on day one. With the grave threats facing our country abroad, America needs him as our next Secretary of State.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;The Senate voted to confirm Pompeo 57-42. Below is a now released photo of him in North Korea earlier in April. What follows is a background piece released by the White House on April 12th&#8230;On Monday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted to recommend that Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo be confirmed as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58013,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government","category-news","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/31344496_1659639877457072_1340191785338535936_n.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=58012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58012\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/58013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=58012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=58012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=58012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}