page_title: Mike Pompeo
section_title: Tenure
hierarchical_section_title: Mike Pompeo / Secretary of State (2018–present) / Tenure
caption_attribution_description: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, in Tel Aviv, on April 29, 2018. (State Department photo by Ron Przysucha / Public Domain)
context_page_description: Michael Richard Pompeo is an American politician, diplomat, businessman, and attorney who, since April 2018, has been serving as 70th United States secretary of state. He is a former United States Army officer and was Director of the Central Intelligence Agency from January 2017 until April 2018.
  Pompeo was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 2011 to 2017, representing Kansas's 4th congressional district. He was a Kansas representative on the Republican National Committee and member of the Italian American Congressional Delegation. Pompeo is also a member of the Tea Party movement within the Republican Party.
  President Donald Trump nominated Pompeo as secretary of state in March 2018, with Pompeo succeeding Rex Tillerson after his dismissal. Pompeo was confirmed by the Senate on April 26, 2018, in a 57–42 vote and was sworn in the same day.
context_section_description: Pompeo was sworn in on April 26, 2018. In testimony before the senate, he promised to prioritize improving the low-morale issue at the State Department.
  Pompeo played a major part in the negotiations leading to the 2018 North Korea–United States Summit, and attended the summit at Singapore on June 12, 2018. During the summit Pompeo famously passed National Security Advisor John Bolton a disparaging note about President Trump, highlighted in Bolton's book "The Room Where it Happened". Following the summit he led the US party in further negotiations between the sides, leading to the return of the remains of US soldiers from Korea, and held several meetings with high ranking North Koreans, including North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, in Pyongyang.
  In August 2018, Pompeo thanked Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman "for Saudi Arabia's support for northeast Syria's urgent stabilization needs". Pompeo and Crown Prince also discussed the situation in war-torn Yemen.
  Pompeo condemned the military crackdown by the Myanmar Army and police on Rohingya Muslims. In July 2018, Pompeo raised the issue of Xinjiang re-education camps and human rights abuses against the Uyghur Muslim minority in China. Pompeo criticized Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for his refusal to condemn the Chinese government's repressions against the Uyghurs.
  On October 10, 2018, Pompeo said Israel "is everything we want the entire Middle East to look like going forward" and that the Israel–United States relations are "stronger than ever". In March 2019, when questioned regarding Israel's conflicts with Iran and following a visit to the Western Wall with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Pompeo spoke to "the work that our administration's done to make sure that this democracy in the Middle East, that this Jewish state, remains ... I am confident that the Lord is at work here."
  On November 16, 2018, a CIA assessment was leaked to the media that concluded with "high confidence" Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammad bin Salman ordered the October 2, 2018, assassination of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Under mounting pressure from lawmakers who wanted action against Saudi Arabia, Pompeo disputed the CIA's conclusion and declared there was no direct evidence linking the Crown Prince to the Khashoggi's assassination.
  On January 7, 2019, Pompeo began a diplomatic tour of the Middle East to assure regional U.S. partners that, amid the sudden withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria, the U.S. mission to degrade and destroy the Islamic State and to counter Iranian influence in the region had not changed. The trip included stops in Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, and the Gulf nations. During the tour the secretary upheld America's alliance with the Arab States and Israel, commended the successful fight against ISIS and radical Islamic terrorists and countered Iranian influence in the region.
  Pompeo announced on January 23, 2019, that Juan Guaidó would be recognized by the U.S. as the legitimate interim president of Venezuela, and that American diplomats in Caracas would remain at their posts, even as Nicolás Maduro gave them three days to evacuate the country upon Guaidó assumption of the presidency. After protests for over "homophobic, racist and misogynist remarks" by Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, a ceremony hosted by the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce was canceled. It was set to award Pompeo and Bolsonaro for "fostering closer commercial and diplomatic ties between Brazil and the United States".
  On May 14, 2019, Pompeo met for three hours with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov and for 90 minutes with Russian President Putin in Sochi, Russia. According to a Kremlin aide, they discussed Syria, North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, and the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START); Pompeo stated that he brought up and Putin again denied Russian election interference.
  In October 2019, the State Department web site promoted a speech by Pompeo "On Being a Christian Leader," which he delivered to a Christian group in his official government role. Pompeo t
caption: Pompeo with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, April 29, 2018
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