Andrea Thompson, the State Department’s point person for nuclear arms control, has left her post after 15 months on the job, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo announced late last week.
“Andrea Thompson is a dedicated public servant who brought over 25 years of military experience to her role at the [State Department],” Pompeo wrote in a Sept. 20 statement that was posted online. “I thank her for her commitment and decades of service to our country. I wish her all the best in the future.”
Thompson was the undersecretary of state for arms control and international security. The Senate confirmed her unanimously in April 2018 for the State Department post in charge, among other things, of monitoring compliance with international arms control agreements such as the New START nuclear arms-control treaty between the United States and Russia and the two nations’ now-defunct Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
Neither Thompson nor her boss said why the former intelligence officer, Capitol Hill aide, and think-tanker was leaving her job. Media reported she would seek employment in the private sector after leaving federal service in October.
Thompson herself aimed publicly at a cordial parting of the ways, tweeting thanks to Pompeo late on Sept. 20 for the opportunity to serve.
Thank you @SecPompeo for the opportunity to lead this incredible team. It’s been an honor to serve our great Nation for almost 3 yrs @WhiteHouse & @StateDept. I’m so very proud of our T Family team & what we’ve accomplished together for our Nation’s security. 🇺🇸 https://t.co/7vQnzeJbvZ
— U/S of State Andrea Thompson (@UnderSecT) September 20, 2019
In her time at State, Thompson clashed with some of the Republican Party’s more hawkish members on Iranian policy, including President Donald Trump’s recently departed fourth national security ddviser, John Bolton, and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). Thompson, for example, supported some sanctions relief for Iran, even after Trump withdrew the United States from the multilateral nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic. Known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the pact sought to stop Tehran from acquiring the materials required to build a nuclear a weapon.
The White House had not nominated anyone to succeed Thompson on a full-time basis at deadline Friday for Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor.
The Washington Post earlier this year reported that Thompson’s husband had ties to an unregistered Russian agent inside the U.S. The newspaper did not allege criminal wrongdoing on Thompson’s part, but did say she did not disclose those ties to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which vetted her for the job she now leaves.
