Thursday, 15/03/2018 22:04 (GMT+7)
The White House on March 13th announced Mr. Mike Pompeo is leaving his post as CIA director to become President Trump's new Secretary of State.
CIA Director Mike Pompeo is appointed as Secretary of State (Photo: CNBC.com)
"Mike Pompeo, Director of the CIA, will become our new Secretary of State," Trump wrote in a tweet, adding: "Thank you to Rex Tillerson for his service!"
“I have gotten to know Mike very well over the past 14 months, and I am confident he is the right person for the job at this critical juncture,” Trump said in a statement.
“He will continue our program of restoring America’s standing in the world, strengthening our alliances, confronting our adversaries, and seeking the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”
Like many of Mr Trump’s favourite cabinet members, Mr Pompeo comes from a military background. He graduated first in his class from West Point and served in the US Army, before going on to Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. He later joined Williams and Connolly, a Washington law firm, before being elected to Congress in 2010 as a member of the newly formed Tea Party.
Earlier, Mr. Trump picked Gina Haspel to be CIA Director, replacing Pompeo. She will become the first woman Director of the CIA.
Both she and Pompeo will have to be confirmed by the Senate./.
Compiled by BTA