CIA Chief Mike Pompeo becomes the new US Secretary of State, Gina Haspel becomes the first woman CIA Director

Washington: US President Donald Trump dismissed Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson with immediate effect and appointed Chief of the intelligence service ‘CIA’, Mike Pompeo as the new Secretary of State. President Trump announced this through his tweet on Tuesday evening. With Pompeo’s appointment as the Secretary of State, the CIA Deputy Chief, Gina Haspel has been appointed as the new CIA Chief. Haspel has become the first woman to be appointed as the CIA Chief.

Rex Tillerson was forced to leave his Africa visit midway and return to the United States after being removed as the Secretary of State. He said that he did know the reason for this as there has been no discussion in the matter with President Trump. After being fired as the Secretary of State, Tillerson visited the Department of State and thanked the employees and the 300 million American people. Trump administration has forced 19 officials and secretaries to leave their posts in the last year.

President Trump in his tweet on Tuesday announced that CIA Chief Mike Pompeo will be the new Secretary of State. Pompeo will handle the responsibility very well. I thank Rex Tillerson for his services. Gina Haspel will be the new CIA Chief and she becomes the first woman to hold the Chief’s post. I congratulate everyone,’ were the words used by Trump to announce the removal of Tillerson.

After announcing the removal of Tillerson through his tweet, President Trump clarified further while talking to the press outside the White House. ‘We were doing some good work, but there were serious differences on certain issues. Especially, thinking about the Iran agreement, I was of the opinion that it is a very bad agreement. But Tillerson found it correct. I wanted to completely break it or change it and Tillerson had a different stand. This is where we had a difference of opinion,’ President Trump clarified his position behind Tillerson’s removal.

‘Newly appointed Secretary of State, Pompeo and I have a similar thought process. Therefore, something good will happen in the future,’ President Trump clarified further. The differences between Trump and Tillerson had surfaced last year itself. His tone was different from President Trump about the issues of North Korea, Russian interference along with Iran. It had come to the fore that Tillerson had used abusive language while referring to Trump.

Following Tillerson, the Under Secretary in the State Department, Steve Goldstein has also been dismissed. Goldstein had expressed displeasure about Tillerson’s removal. Therefore, he has been replaced by the State Department’s spokesperson, Heather Nauert.

After the appointment of Mike Pompeo as the Secretary of State, the current Deputy Chief Gina Haspel has been appointed as the new CIA Chief. After playing an important role in the comprehensive US campaign against the ‘Al Qaeda’, Gina Haspel was a topic of discussion because of some debatable issues. But, it is believed that she has an experience of 30 years in the intelligence services and will do some effective work.