President Donald Trump Revokes Security Detail for Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
President Trump has revoked the security detail for his former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who received ongoing protection due to threats from Iran after taking a hardline policy toward the country during Trump’s first administration. The decision comes shortly after Trump terminated the Secret Service detail for his former national security adviser John Bolton.
The move has sparked concern among former intelligence and national security officials, who view it as a potentially dangerous and ill-advised decision. A former intelligence official has expressed alarm, stating, “Somebody is going to get killed, there is a credible and serious Iranian threat against Pompeo and Bolton.” Another former national security official has criticized Trump’s decision as motivated by “pure spite and pettiness and Trump better hope the Iranians don’t hurt one of these people.”
Pompeo was heavily involved in shaping Trump’s policy toward Iran and played a role in his order to assassinate top Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani in early 2020. The Justice Department has revealed that the Iranian government had sought revenge against senior Trump officials involved in the killing, including Pompeo and Bolton, who are both Iran hawks. The two were targets of a foiled Iranian assassination plot, according to the Department of Justice.
Trump has himself remained a target of Iran, with his team requesting increased security last summer after receiving briefings from the Biden administration that Iran was still actively plotting to kill him. When asked about the stripping of security from former officials, Trump replied, “When you have protection, you can’t have it for the rest of your life. You don’t want a large detail of people guarding people the rest of their lives. I mean there are risks to everything.”
