Pompeo to face Senate confirmation amid crises
WASHINGTON — Mike Pompeo faces his Senate confirmation hearing Thursday to become secretary of state as the Trump administration grapples with a mounting series of international crises and challenges, including probably U.S. air raids in Syria, a likely withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, and a possible summit with North Korea.
If confirmed, the former Republican member of Congress and CIA director will take over a State Department that has been badly depleted by senior staff departures and a shrinking budget under President Donald Trump.
Pompeo’s confirmation isn’t assured.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has a onevote Republican majority — and one Republican, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, already has announced his opposition.
If Pompeo does not gain any Democrats’ votes, the committee likely will pass his nomination “without recommendation” to the full Senate for a vote. That would prove embarrassing but not necessarily fatal since Pompeo has allies in Congress.
Pompeo has courted committee Democrats and other senators in closeddoor meetings. At least in public, most senators remained noncommittal.
“This was a valuable opportunity to hear his views on the diplomatic challenges facing our country around the globe,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., a member of the committee. “I look forward to asking him more questions during his confirmation hearing.”
Pompeo also reached out to former secretaries of state, including Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, whom he Mike Pompeo will face his confirmation hearing for secretary of state as international crises mount. railed against when they served under President Barack Obama.
Pompeo, a member of Congress from Kansas for six years until January 2017, whenTrumptappedhimfor the CIA, is seen as more hawkish on international issues than his predecessor, Rex Tillerson, whomTrump fired last month.
While in Congress, he strongly opposed the 2015 deal to limit Iran’s nuclear weapons capability, and is expected to back Trump’s vows to withdraw from the accord.
Pompeo struck a more diplomatic position on Capitol Hill, however.
Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., a member of the committee, said Pompeo told him he preferred to “fix not nix” the agreement, but was prepared to withdraw from it.
Cardin voted against Pompeo as CIA director last year. But even some Democrats who backed Pompeo then appeared reluctant this time.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., another committee member, voted for Pompeo last year, for example, but said he now has concerns that Pompeo would resort to military action over diplomatic negotiation.
“I just want to understand his temperament,” Kaine said.
Sen. Paul, the only Repub- lican to vote against Pompeo for CIA director, said he will oppose him again because of Pompeo’s defense, while in Congress, of the CIA’s use of harsh interrogation methodsthat critics called torture.
Pompeo, 54, was born in Orange, Calif., and graduated from the West Point. He served as an Army officer before he moved to Wichita, Kan., and began working in the defense industry and then politics.
If confirmed, Pompeowill need to remain in Trump’s favor while also building a constituency at the State Department, where foreign policy veterans have quit or retired in droves rather than carry out Trump’s policies.
Pompeo has gotten briefings at the State Department. But there, too, he is working at a disadvantage.
As of March 23, only two of seven under-secretary of state positions and 14 of 22 assistant secretary of state posts hadbeennominatedor confirmed, according to the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, a foreign-policy advocacy group that tracks administration appointments.
In addition, 37 ambassador posts remain open without nominations, including hot spots such as South Korea, Turkey and Jordan.