Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo defended the decision to accept Columbia University's troubled campus appointment.
Pompeo served as CIA director during President Trump's first term before becoming the top cabinet secretary (the only person holding both posts), but began stints for a year as the undergraduate Institute for Global Politics in International Public Service on March 1st.
“We're still working on exactly what the role is and how to shape it,” he told the Post in a Wednesday sit-in at his Columbia office. He “lent my practitioner's views” in his “guest appearances in other professors in classrooms” and in his school lecture series.
“I might be in class in the fall, but I'm more likely to come to the event like I do today,” he pasted questions to him, in a group of 25-30 students following a meeting with the faculty. “For me, it's always with curious, ambitious and clever young people, trying desperately to understand the truth from fiction.”
Different perspectives
Pompeo is a busy man – he is a businessman and “I'm still traveling a fair amount of the world”, but he expects to be present on a regular basis in Morningside Heights.
“I'm in New York almost every week, but I'll probably be on campus two or three times a month for a few days,” he said.
The protesters have also been a regular presence there since the Israeli massacre on October 7, 2023. Due to the occasional violent school handling of demonstrations, or lack thereof, President Minush Shafiq resigned last year several months after she moved classes online and canceled the start.
Deborah Lippstadt, former President Joe Biden's anti-Semitic mission, declared he would not teach in Colombia after considering visiting professors at the Free Press last week.
Pompeo read her work.
“She said there are three things,” he began. “She didn't want to serve as a prop or a fig leaf. She didn't think security was appropriate, and she didn't think she could make a difference. And I don't agree with all three of those.
“It's not that I don't know that Columbia's shortcoming is a facility or that I failed to maintain the proper order for half or two last year. What I see and think I'll show up and change it is not my mission set. My mission set is to make sure there's actually a set of voices on campus that are different from the majority of the faculty here, and students get the opportunity to hear them, make their own judgments and ask their own difficult questions about me and the other faculty.”
As for security, Pompeo said he assured him that the university would support “civic discourse on campus.”
“Her last thing was that she can't make a difference. Boy, that's like a defeatist to me. I've seen small changes over time in many institutions, but as long as we can help push the rocks up the hills, I'm ready to do it here and will be just a part of what I hope this institution will be a better place for learning,” he continued.
“When I was young, I played basketball. I wasn't great, but I got the most improved player. I hope Columbia gets the most improved. And hearing all these voices, progressing towards the steps to do so in a decent and safe way, and every student on campus can feel that they have the opportunity to hear a variety of ideas and do so in a safe environment.”
I was bullied by silence
Colombia's issues certainly had been in the spotlight last week.
The Education Department announced on Friday “an immediate cancellation of federal grants and contracts of approximately $400 million to Columbia University due to continued inaction due to schools facing permanent harassment of Jewish students.”
Team Trump had told the school that he was considering $5 billion in federal funding.
“I think Colombia should,” Pompeo said, working on anti-Semitism on campus. This seems to be a baseline requirement for any institution to provide security, especially for young people coming here to learn. Secondly, it seems perfectly appropriate for me to do what the Trump administration uses US taxpayer dollars to utilize Columbia to do what it should be. ”
Trump has signed an order targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Meanwhile, Colombia lives in an awakened world.
“I think most Americans can see this getting out of hand, and when I say 'I'm out of hand,' it's not an idea. Let's make a thousand flowers bloom, right? ” Pompeo said. “What was out of hand was that people with different views were not protected. They were threatened, bullied, they were cajoled” – including online.
“I see people who have more voices, are more tolerant of different ideas and ensure the freedom that these ideas are exchanged in a safe environment. I think it's growing dramatically.”
Pompeo has some personal insights. Trump in January pulled out security details. That was continued, even Biden, as Pompeo is an Iranian target. The murder administration has been particularly inspiring about the murder of Qassem Soleimani, the mastermind behind the January 2020 terrorist attacks.
“The theory was that security would be provided as long as there was a threat left and the threat hadn't changed. Yeah, I was surprised,” Pompeo said.
He pays for “expensive” private security. “And I'm getting help from local law enforcement here in New York City. “It's not about me, right? If there's an incident or something, it affects the people who're with me, the people who meet me, or the audience who's with me.”
MAGA value
However, Pompeo still has plenty of praise for his old boss. Trump announced the arrest of the terrorist on Wednesday. Terrorists helped plan the August 2021 attack in Kabul at the airport's monastery gate. He killed 13 service members.
“I wouldn't be surprised if the Pakistani government, which clearly detained and handed him over, was far more prepared than President Biden to take office with President Trump? And I believe the Trump administration has actually accomplished this,” Pompeo said.
He also expressed his optimism about Ukrainian freedom fighters.
“They are engaged in the frontline struggle between good and evil, and that's a fierce battle between Vladimir Putin and the Russian army against a very capable enemy. Yeah, I'm worried about them, and I'm worried that the whole world will be watching to see whether Putin's attack will be rewarded, and if so, what its secondary and tertiary meanings are. What do you think of Iran's leadership? What do you think of North Korea's leadership? I saw some very belligerent remarks from Chairman Kim's sister,” he said.
“Kim Yeo Jung, a very nasty woman. And she's looking at whether West is ready to stand up to what it says. And if Putin allows him to succeed in achieving the outcome he wanted, the whole world will be careful, even if it's the ultimate outcome he wanted.”
Pompeo said to those worried about Trump's rhetoric in Russia. Because when we look at rhetoric and action in the first four years, the action had more predictive value. . . . President Trump is pretty smart and he knows what the right outcome is. This may differ from the best results that can be achieved. ”
He argues that supporting Ukraine is a great American action.
“The people who voted for President Trump understand this the most,” Pompeo said. They “have the idea that the American Constitution is important and that America is an incredibly unique civilization. I think it's consistent with providing resources to enable Ukrainians to fight against themselves.”
And they are “people who have an obligation to believe in the boundaries of sovereignty, sovereignty,” and “the right to fight for what people care about, and the fact that you can't beat lawless actors. That's a mag, right? That's certainly the first policy of America.”
“Unfortunately, what President Biden did was tell the Ukrainians, “You can fight and die, but you can't win.” That's not a mag, is it? It doesn't put America first. “The “correct result” is to “not just a deadlock, but also to actually achieve victory.”
It's clearly a problem that is close to his heart. He asked about Kalkiv, a Ukrainian city near the Russian border after an interviewer mentioned her time in 2023.
“There's nothing like New York. I've been to many of the world's big cities, many of the capitals around the world, and certainly to the US big cities,” he said. “Everyone talks about it being the biggest city in the world. I don't know about it, but it's unique and fun.”
While rubbing his shoulders with his colleagues – he hadn't had the opportunity to meet former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yet, but he had no chance to share the story with the students.
