At A Glance:

Michael R. Pompeo is a distinguished fellow at Hudson Institute. His work focuses on promoting US national security, technological leadership, and global engagement.

Biography

Michael R. Pompeo is a distinguished fellow at Hudson Institute. At Hudson, his work focuses on promoting US national security, technological leadership, and global engagement. He served as the 70th United States secretary of state from April 2018 through January 2021. He previously served from January 2017 to April 2018 as director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

As our nation’s most senior diplomat, Secretary Pompeo helped craft US foreign policy based on our nation’s founding ideals, putting America first. America became a massive energy exporter and a force for good in the Middle East, cementing real peace through the work of the Abraham Accords. He placed particular emphasis on renewing alliances with key allies, including India, Japan, Australia, and South Korea.

Secretary Pompeo’s time at the State Department marked the end of naïve engagement with the Chinese Communist Party, pulling back the curtain shielding the egregious acts of the CCP that threaten American jobs and freedoms. He focused efforts on calling out and punishing perpetrators of attacks on basic human dignity in places like Venezuela, North Korea, Iran, Nigeria, China, and elsewhere. Secretary Pompeo also led a team that executed America’s largest-ever global repatriation effort in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prior to joining the Trump administration, Secretary Pompeo was serving in his fourth term as congressman from Kansas’ 4th District. He served on the House Intelligence Committee, Energy and Commerce Committee, and the House Select Benghazi Committee.

Before serving in Congress, Secretary Pompeo spent a decade leading two manufacturing businesses in Wichita, Kansas. He founded Thayer Aerospace, a global supplier to the world’s leading commercial and military aircraft builders, serving as CEO. He later became president of Sentry International, an oilfield equipment manufacturing, distribution, and service company.

After graduating first in his class at the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1986, Secretary Pompeo served as a cavalry officer patrolling the Iron Curtain before the fall of the Berlin Wall. He also served with the 2nd Squadron, 7th Cavalry in the US Army’s Fourth Infantry Division.

Once completing his active duty, Secretary Pompeo graduated from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. He worked as an attorney at Williams & Connolly immediately following Harvard.

In 2021, he founded Champion American Values PAC, supporting political candidates across the country who will champion the US and its founding principles first.

Secretary Pompeo is originally from Orange, California. He is married to Susan Pompeo and has one son, Nick.

Events
07
March 2024
Past Event
Aiding America’s Frontline Allies: The View from Israel and Ukraine with Secretary Mike Pompeo
Featured Speakers:
Michael R. Pompeo
Michael Doran
The Israeli flag flies in front of the Lviv Regional State Administration building as a sign of solidarity with the Israeli people on October 13, 2023, in Lviv, Ukraine. (Photo by Les Kasyanov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
07
March 2024
Past Event
Aiding America’s Frontline Allies: The View from Israel and Ukraine with Secretary Mike Pompeo

Mike Pompeo will sit down with Michael Doran to discuss how America return to a position of global strength.

The Israeli flag flies in front of the Lviv Regional State Administration building as a sign of solidarity with the Israeli people on October 13, 2023, in Lviv, Ukraine. (Photo by Les Kasyanov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
Featured Speakers:
Michael R. Pompeo
Michael Doran
09
November 2023
Past Event
The Israel-Hamas War: A Conversation with Seventieth Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
Featured Speakers:
Michael R. Pompeo
Michael Doran
An Israeli army M109 155mm self-propelled howitzer fires rounds near the border with Gaza in southern Israel on October 11, 2023. (Photo by Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)
09
November 2023
Past Event
The Israel-Hamas War: A Conversation with Seventieth Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

Join Hudson for a discussion with Distinguished Fellow Michael R. Pompeo on the ongoing Israel-Hamas war’s place in the Iranian strategy to undermine the United States.

An Israeli army M109 155mm self-propelled howitzer fires rounds near the border with Gaza in southern Israel on October 11, 2023. (Photo by Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)
Featured Speakers:
Michael R. Pompeo
Michael Doran
31
May 2023
Past Event
Partnership of Freedom: AUKUS Viewed by Its Architects
Featured Speakers:
Hon. Boris Johnson
Hon. Scott Morrison
Michael R. Pompeo
Bryan Clark
John Lee
Moderator:
Miles Yu
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31
May 2023
Past Event
Partnership of Freedom: AUKUS Viewed by Its Architects

Please join Hudson’s China Center for a panel discussion with the architects of the AUKUS agreement—former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, and Seventieth US Secretary of State and Distinguished Fellow Michael R. Pompeo—on this monumental diplomatic and security achievement.

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Featured Speakers:
Hon. Boris Johnson
Hon. Scott Morrison
Michael R. Pompeo
Bryan Clark
John Lee
Moderator:
Miles Yu
17
May 2023
Past Event
The Next Move in Ukraine: A Conversation with Michael R. Pompeo
Featured Speakers:
Michael R. Pompeo
Peter Rough
Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shake hands in Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 4, 2023. (Ukrainian Presidency / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
17
May 2023
Past Event
The Next Move in Ukraine: A Conversation with Michael R. Pompeo
Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shake hands in Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 4, 2023. (Ukrainian Presidency / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Featured Speakers:
Michael R. Pompeo
Peter Rough
Two Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps armed military personnel are monitoring an area while standing guard next to an Iranian Majid anti-aircraft missile system during the Ela Beit Al-Moghaddas military rally in Tehran, Iran, on November 24, 2023. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Caption
Two Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps armed military personnel are monitoring an area while standing guard next to an Iranian Majid anti-aircraft missile system during the Ela Beit Al-Moghaddas military rally in Tehran, Iran, on November 24, 2023. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
mike_pompeo
mike_pompeo
Distinguished Fellow
Forty-Eighth Vice President of the United States
Commentary
1 Min Read
This aerial photograph taken on February 1, 2024, shows residential buildings destroyed by shelling in Izyum, Kharkiv region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Roman PILIPEY / AFP) (Photo by ROMAN PILIPEY/AFP via Getty Images)
Caption
Residential buildings destroyed by shelling in Izyum, Kharkiv, on February 1, 2024. (Roman Pilipey/AFP via Getty Images)
mike_pompeo
mike_pompeo
Distinguished Fellow
heinrichs
heinrichs
Senior Fellow and Director, Keystone Defense Initiative
nadia_schadlow
nadia_schadlow
Senior Fellow
5+
luke_coffey
Senior Fellow
peter_rough
Senior Fellow and Director, Center on Europe and Eurasia
walter_russell_mead
Ravenel B. Curry III Distinguished Fellow in Strategy and Statesmanship
bryan_clark
Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Defense Concepts and Technology
Senior Fellow (Non-Resident)
Reports
6 Min Read