GOVERNMENT

Mike Pompeo

United States secretary of state

Being named as the 70th secretary of state of the United States in April 2018 marked another milestone in the impressive career of Mike Pompeo. The former US army officer served as Director of the CIA from January 2017 until his move to the State Department, and also spent 2011-17 as a congressman representing Kansas's 4th congressional district. In recent months, Pompeo has focused on two of the gravest international threats posed to the US and its allies: North Korea and Iran. In August, Pompeo announced the creation of the Iran Action Group to coordinate the US policy of sanctions and pressure on the regime in Tehran. The US "withdrew from the flawed Iran nuclear deal [of July 2015], which failed to restrain Iran’s nuclear progress or its campaigns of violence abroad," Pompeo said at the IAG's launch. "In its place President Trump has instituted a campaign of pressure, deterrence, and solidarity with the long-suffering Iranian people." (Photo: Andrew Harnik / Pool via Reuters.)