White House fires top Tillerson aide

A successful secretary of state needs to be able to speak for the president – something that Tillerson could never do and Pompeo will probably achieve from Day One.

Haspel later served as chief of staff to the head of the agencys Counterterrorism Center, Jose Rodriguez, when he ordered the destruction of dozens of videotapes made at the Thailand site.

Intelligence officers who served with her and congressional officials said that in 2002, during Republican President George W. Bush’s administration, she was responsible for the secret prison codenamed “Cat’s Eye”.

Then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in NY on September 20. During that time, he wants Congress and European allies to come up with a new deal.

Tillerson’s departure follows months of tension between him and Trump. They just disagreed on too much. He operated in tandem with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis; this axis of caution has now been broken, perhaps leaving Mattis in a more vulnerable position.

President Donald Trump is telling reporters that he made the decision to oust Secretary of State Rex Tillerson “by myself”. “In that sense, I don’t think it will change much in terms of overall policy stance towards Maduro’s government”.

“What is most important is to ensure an orderly and smooth transition during the time that the country continues to face significant policy and national security challenges”, Tillerson said. That call came hours after Trump told the world he was replacing the former oil tycoon with CIA Director Mike Pompeo.

The timing may have to do with the May deadline for renewing the lifting of sanctions on Iran.

Trump has blasted the 2015 Iran nuclear deal – aimed at curbing Tehran’s nuclear program and a landmark achievement of his predecessor Barack Obama – as the “worst deal ever negotiated”.

Pompeo, a former Republican congressman from Kansas, has been one of Trump’s most loyal Cabinet members and quickly formed a close bond with the president, coming personally to the White House most days to deliver the President’s Daily Briefing.

“Firing your secretary of state right before an unprecedented summit with North Korea is not smart and suggests Trump can not act strategically”, said Jon Wolfsthal, who served as senior director for arms control and non-proliferation at the National Security Council under former President Barack Obama.

Pompeo laid out his arguments six weeks before the 2016 election in an essay for Foreign Policy with the pithy title “Friends Don’t Let Friends Do Business With Iran”.

“My wife told me I’m supposed to do this”, he responded when an aide asked him why he accepted the position anyway. Now it will be taking cues from the man who tried to warn them about this.

Foreign Minister Taro Kono had been planning a trip to the United States later this week to hold talks with Tillerson about the latest developments in North Korea. Tillerson wanted the U.S.to stay in the Paris climate accord; Trump took the US out. Tillerson yesterday agreed that Russian Federation “was likely responsible for the nerve agent attack” on former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England, speaking on a flight back from Africa.

But he says, it had seemed “that they had learned to work together a little bit better”. Mr. Pompeo has repeatedly stepped out of the proper role of an intelligence director to be an advocate for hawkish policies.

Finally there is North Korea.

A White House official said Trump wanted to have a new team in place ahead of upcoming talks with North Korea and various trade talks.

Evans Revere, a former senior USA diplomat who dealt with North Korea under President George W. Bush, said Trump’s move sends “a bad signal about the role of diplomacy”. He said planning remained in the “very early stages”. Compare Tillerson’s response to that of Pompeo. And thanks to Trump’s tax reform the total he will end up paying on that sum will likely be lower than it would have been a year ago.