“At some point, the government expands into the private sphere so far that you live in a place with a whole lot less freedom. I didn't like that that was the direction of travel for our country, and decided to come to Washington to try and be a small part of bringing it back.”

American politician, attorney and diplomat

Michael Richard Pompeo is an American politician, attorney, diplomat, and former U.S. Army officer. He served in Donald Trump’s first administration as director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 2017 to 2018 and as the 70th United States secretary of state from 2018 to 2021. A Republican, Pompeo represented Kansas’s 4th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 2011 to 2017. His public career spans law, intelligence, diplomacy, and elected office, placing him among the most visible American officials of the late 2010s and early 2020s.