Mike Pompeo Is the Anti-Tillerson

If you had to pick the Trump appointee who had the best 2017, a good choice would be Mike Pompeo, director of the CIA. In a year when a record number of administration officials left and a handful of others came under fire from President Trump, Pompeo is the rare team member whose fortunes have risen. He’s a key defender of the president’s policies, from Iran to China, and has shown a fierce loyalty, including a proclivity to indulge some of Trump’s views on controversial issues such as Russian meddling in the 2016 election. While that may have improved the standing of an agency Trump attacked repeatedly during his presidential campaign and the transition, it’s raised concerns about Pompeo’s commitment to keep the CIA free of politics.

As much as anyone in the administration, Pompeo has mastered the art of communicating with this president. He’s one of the first people in the Oval Office each morning when he shows up to deliver Trump the daily intelligence briefing. By most accounts, this is one of the highlights of the president’s day. Not only does Trump get details of the country’s most secretive operations, he gets them in bite-sized, boiled-down charts and graphics designed to maximize the attention of a famously fickle president.