Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo revealed Monday (Feb. 15) that he will co-chair with former national security adviser John O’Brien the Nixon Foundation’s monthly foreign policy roundtable seminar aimed at refining and advancing U.S. conservative policy, with China as one of the main points of discussion. Pompeo said he expects such a collaboration to allow U.S. “conservative realism to continue to evolve.
The Nixon Roundtable on Conservative Realism and National Security will “revisit and advance the vision of conservative realist international policy advanced by President Nixon 50 years ago,” according to a press release issued Monday by the Nixon Foundation. The press release said U.S.-China relations, global science and technology innovation, and the promotion of lasting peace in the Middle East will be the focus of the forum. The first panel is expected to be held March 2.
In a joint statement, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former National Security Adviser John O’Brien said such a forum is critical in the current context. “Our monthly discussions will advance American interests and develop the next generation of realist decision-makers for the United States,” the statement said.
Participants in the roundtable also include former Deputy National Security Adviser Bomen, former State Department spokesman Ortegaz and Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), among others.
Pompeo is currently a Distinguished Fellow at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank. He is the first U.S. secretary of state to have served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency. As one of the most central members of Trump‘s cabinet, he is a strong supporter and implementer of the Trump Administration‘s foreign policy. With conservative political views and a strong Anti-Communist stance, he advocated abandoning the idea of trying to promote democracy in China through trade, distinguishing the Chinese Communist Party from the Chinese people, and confronting the Chinese Communist Party on the level of national security.
Prior to becoming Trump’s White House national security adviser, O’Brien served as a U.S. hostage negotiator since May 2018, brokering the release of U.S. citizens around the globe. O’Brien was a major in the U.S. Army Reserve. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law and founded a law firm in California in 2016 that focuses on resolving international arbitration matters.
Pompeo’s future moves after leaving office have been under scrutiny, as he tweeted a day after leaving office on Jan. 21 to start a countdown to the 2024 presidential election date, sparking debate on whether he intends to run in the 2024 presidential election. In an interview with the media, Pompeo did not give a clear answer, but noted that he wanted to continue to promote the cause of “America First” in some role during the Trump administration.
On Jan. 20, as Biden was sworn in as president, the Chinese government announced sanctions against Pompeo, O’Brien, Bomen and 28 other outgoing Trump administration officials for “seriously infringing on China’s sovereignty in China-related issues.
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