The Bolton-Pompeo Package

April 10, 2018 Topic: The Presidency Foreign Policy Region: United States Blog Brand: Paul Pillar

The Bolton-Pompeo Package

One might argue that a Pompeo who is an eager policy advocate is better suited for a policy job such as secretary of state than for the job of CIA director.  But the appropriate question is whether he should be promoted when he showed contempt for the standards and principles of the job he already has.  And the problem is not just policy advocacy but a penchant for pushing politically convenient preconceptions, even if this means flouting relevant facts. 

On these and other issues, Pompeo is more of an echo of Trump than a restraint on him.  Considered by himself, there are ample reasons to reject his nomination.  The reasons are multiplied with John Bolton in the West Wing.  They are multiplied further when considering that the occupant of the Oval Office was barely restrained even with the likes of McMaster and Rex Tillerson around, and that he is liable to go on unknown tangents according to whatever the last person he talked to happened to say.       

Image: Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Mike Pompeo testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., February 13, 2018. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein