Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is at least a little hopeful about CIA Director Mike Pompeo’s nomination to become the nation’s top diplomat.
While speaking at The Wing, a women-only club, in New York City on Tuesday, Clinton slammed Rex Tillerson’s tenure at the State Department.
“It’s a tragedy, it’s an absolute tragedy,” Clinton said. “The State Department has been decimated. Tillerson basically didn’t care about a lot of the expertise that members of the department had accumulated over decades.”
Non-political appointees have reportedly left the State Department in droves during Tillerson’s tenure. Tillerson was fired last month by Trump.
“I view it as a national security threat that the State Department has been so decimated, and I don’t know what will happen with the nomination of Mike Pompeo to become the next secretary of state, but the one small glimmer of hope is when he went into the CIA, he only brought two people with him and he really relied on the career intelligence people,” Clinton said.
“If he will rebuild the State Department, and start listening to those who have very valuable experience, maybe we can work ourselves out of this hole we’re in,” she continued.
Pompeo still has to be confirmed by the Senate before he can replace Tillerson.
