Kansas Congressman Mike Pompeo. Photo: Facebook.

JNS.org – President-elect Donald Trump announced Friday his selection of Kansas Republican Congressman Mike Pompeo as his nominee for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn as his national security adviser.

Pompeo, 52, a three-term congressman who graduated first in his class at West Point Military Academy, has been a fierce critic of President Barack Obama’s landmark nuclear deal with Iran. “I look forward to rolling back this disastrous deal with the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism,” Pompeo wrote on Twitter Thursday.

Pompeo had also previously said that the nuclear agreement is “empowering an Iranian regime that is intent on destroying America.”

The Republican Jewish Coalition called Pompeo’s selection a “wonderful choice.”

“Throughout his years of public service, Rep. Pompeo has been a friend of American Jews and a true friend of Israel,” RJC head Matt Brooks said in a statement Friday. “His staunch opposition to the Iran nuclear deal shows he takes our interests to heart and we are proud to support him.”

Meanwhile, Trump also announced Friday the appointment of Flynn as national security adviser.

Flynn, 57, who previously served as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency from 2012-2014, was an early backer of Trump’s candidacy. He has been an outspoken critic of the Obama Administration’s campaign against terrorism, saying in a recently published book that the US is losing a “world war” against radical Islam due to “political correctness.”

While Flynn has been a supporter of Trump’s goal of improving ties with Israel, he sparked controversy last summer for an antisemitic tweet aimed at Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Flynn wrote that “the corrupt Democratic machine will do and say anything” to get Clinton elected, responding to accusations by Clinton that Russia was behind the hack of the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

“This is a new low,” he said on Twitter, while also retweeting a message that read: “Not anymore, Jews. Not anymore.” Flynn later apologized for the retweet, saying that it was a “mistake.”