Another view: ‘It is too bad to see a good man forced to leave’

President Trump’s decision to ask the Senate to confirm CIA Director Mike Pompeo as the new secretary of State, replacing Rex Tillerson, is unsurprising. Rumors to this effect have been floating around for months.

It is too bad to see a good man forced to leave office after just over a year on the job. Tillerson deserves credit for displaying good judgment on a number of key issues such as Iran and North Korea, and projecting steadiness in handling various crises around the world. He was level-headed in dealing with great powers like Russia and China, and forged a good working relationship with other Trump team members like Defense Secretary Jim Mattis (if not necessarily with Trump himself).

Tillerson was less impressive in his thinking about how to reorganize the State Department, and this part of his legacy is unfortunate. But on balance, Tillerson served nobly, and the nation should wish him well.

Pompeo will have to be careful to retain, and build upon, what Tillerson got right. By all accounts, Pompeo is smart and has a good relationship with Trump. But as CIA director, he had the luxury of criticizing policy without necessarily having to produce better ideas.

It is easy to say the Iran nuclear deal could have been better — which it could have been — until you must devise an alternative. It is easy to think that we should simply “solve” the North Korea problem until you realize that doing so, if carried out impetuously, could lead to the deadliest U.S. war since 1945. Pompeo will have to prove he knows as much — not only to his immediate boss, but also to Congress and the nation.

It is a fraught, but also an exciting, time in U.S. foreign policy. I am encouraged that Trump has chosen such a bright and promising new leader for Foggy Bottom, while also now planning to elevate a woman to run the CIA for the first time in our history.

I remain a Trump critic in many ways, but fortunately he continues to choose talented individuals to lead his foreign policy team.