April 12, 2018

Here’s What the Senate Should Ask Mike Pompeo

Democratic foreign-policy veterans want answers from Trump’s pick for secretary of state.

By Ilan Goldenberg

The U.S. Senate’s consideration of CIA Director Mike Pompeo for confirmation as secretary of state is a critical inflection point for U.S. foreign policy. Some consider Pompeo one of the few remaining “adults” in President Donald Trump’s inner circle, but his appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday will be the first real airing of his views on most foreign policy. Here are some questions Shadow Government contributors hope he will answer.

Daniel B. Baer

Your past statements could be seen as indicating that you don’t believe in diplomacy. Do you?

What do you think the goals of U.S. diplomacy should be in the next five years?

Do you agree with Trump’s assertion that he is “the only one that matters”? If you do agree, why do you want to be secretary of state?

Former President Ronald Reagan, in his farewell address, spoke of the United States’ moral leadership and role in the world. He said the country was “still a beacon … for all who must have freedom, for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness, toward home.” What would you do or advocate as secretary of state to undo the damage that the Trump administration’s travel ban and slashing of refugee admissions have done to Reagan’s vision of the United States as a home for pilgrims from lost places?


Read the full article at FP

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