Kansas Republican Rep. Mike Pompeo accepted the post of CIA director in the new administration from President-elect Donald Trump, the transition team announced Friday morning.
Pompeo, a member of the House Select Committee on Intelligence and a third term Republican, originally supported Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio during the presidential primaries but later supported Trump when the New York billionaire emerged as the nominee.
Pompeo is close to Vice President-elect Mike Pence from the years they served in the House together.
The Kansas Republican is an outspoken critic against the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran but supports the National Security Agency’s much debated data collection program.
Pompeo also served on the House Select Benghazi Committee. Following the release of the committee’s report last June, Pompeo and Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan released their own report criticizing Hillary Clinton over how she dealt with the deadly 2012 terrorist attack in Libya.
A graduate of West Point and Harvard Law School, Pompeo was part of the 2010 Republican wave of freshman members who helped the party take control of the House from the Democrats.