Mike Pompeo Quotes

The unmerited fear of genetically modified organism crops threatens scientific advancements in biotechnology needed to meet the growing global demand for safe and affordable food.

- Mike Pompeo

Some opponents of GMO labeling claim that disclosing genetically modified ingredients will increase food prices. But every shopper knows food companies routinely change their labels to make new claims and highlight innovations.

- Mike Pompeo

The nuclear deal with Iran's radical clerics and their military junta is the most dangerous and potentially deadly action that the Obama administration has yet taken.

- Mike Pompeo

If you choose to put political expediency and politics ahead of the men and women on the ground, for that, you'll have to answer to yourself. I find it morally reprehensible.

- Mike Pompeo

It would be extremely naive to conclude anything other than the following: America's most vital secrets are in the hands of our adversaries because Secretary Clinton intentionally avoided using official government communication systems.

- Mike Pompeo

For folks in Washington to believe that they are smart enough to pick the next energy technology is, in my judgment, the height of arrogance. For me or any of my peers to pick energy-technology X as the solution to solving America's energy problems is just a fool's errand.

- Mike Pompeo

There is an enormous consensus about the disaster that Obamacare has been.

- Mike Pompeo

I am working hard to provide solutions to meet a most pressing goal: preserving our way of life for our kids and grandkids.

- Mike Pompeo

Sometimes I think people live in a parallel universe when they say all we need are a few more regulations.

- Mike Pompeo

CISPA permits, but does not require, entities that have been attacked to voluntarily share their knowledge of a cyber threat with each other and with government.

- Mike Pompeo

By withholding critical details and stonewalling congressional inquiries, President Obama seems to be hiding whether or not he and others broke U.S. law by sending $1.7 billion in cash to Iran.

- Mike Pompeo

To the degree that we can demonstrate support for the Ukrainian government, we can change Putin's calculus and increase the risk to him and to Russia for moving combat forces closer to Kiev.

- Mike Pompeo

Russia continues to side with... rogue states and terrorist organizations, following Vladimir Putin's pattern of gratuitous and unpunished affronts to U.S. interests.

- Mike Pompeo

Secretary Clinton should be denied access to classified information. Congress must also hold the State Department accountable for fixing the culture of lax handling of classified information.

- Mike Pompeo

Every Muslim leader must unequivocally proclaim that terror committed in the name of Islam violates the core tenets of the Prophet Mohammed, and they must do so repeatedly. Period.

- Mike Pompeo

We must protect the very things that make America so special - most certainly including our civil liberties. But we cannot do so without strong national security and a thoughtful and informed discourse.

- Mike Pompeo

Whether Congress decides to block GMO labeling is about more than the right to know what we're buying and eating. It's also about consumer confusion.

- Mike Pompeo

Old ideas of not trading because 'they won't open their markets to us' miss the entire point of allowing goods to be imported into the United States - because we want and need them and because someone here believes that the good or service received in exchange for our dollars creates value for them.

- Mike Pompeo

Federal policy should not block those who are prepared to risk their own wealth to create an enormous energy export industry here in America.

- Mike Pompeo

Unfortunately, instead of standing up to Iran, the Obama administration is giving in to the Iranians' bizarre tantrums and illogical arguments.

- Mike Pompeo

Created specifically to house the world's most dangerous terrorists, the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay is designed to keep both American personnel and the detainees safe and secure.

- Mike Pompeo

I have traveled to GTMO and have seen the honorable and professional behavior of the American men and women in uniform who serve at the detention facility.

- Mike Pompeo

Every single day, agents of certain foreign governments are relentlessly and methodically trying to hack into our corporations' computer networks and steal blueprints for next-generation equipment and products from some of America's largest exporters.

- Mike Pompeo

Liberty Through Strength II is simply aimed at retaining data that was already available. It has already been collected lawfully.

- Mike Pompeo

When I served in the Army, along the Iron Curtain we had a word for a person who absconds with information and provides it to another nation: traitor. We also had a name for a person who chooses to reveal secrets he had personally promised to protect: common criminal.

- Mike Pompeo

It would not be permissible for you to build a home and not let law enforcement in if they had a search warrant. If they think there's a crime ongoing, they go to court and get a warrant, and they're permitted to come in your home under the Fourth Amendment.

- Mike Pompeo

By rejecting the Iranian nuclear deal, Congress can help achieve the original goal of isolating the bad actors in Iran - the Ayatollah Khamenei, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, its Quds Force commander Quassem Soleimani, and the radical clerics.

- Mike Pompeo

The detainees at GTMO are treated exceptionally well - so well that some have even declined to be resettled, instead choosing to stay at GTMO.

- Mike Pompeo

To affordably feed the next billion people, we must have higher-yielding crops with even greater nutritional value. America should be at the vanguard of the innovative advances that will make this happen.

- Mike Pompeo

Protectionist politicians cannot stand the notion of a fossil-fuel-rich America maintaining record levels of production through exports.

- Mike Pompeo

There is only one Republican presidential candidate that has a proven, courageous, and conservative record on national security: Marco Rubio.

- Mike Pompeo

It is in our interest to crush ISIS, terrorist groups like the al-Nusra front and Ahrar ash-Sham, and Iran's puppet Assad.

- Mike Pompeo

Don't allow politically connected folks to get their particular tax breaks.

- Mike Pompeo

Historically, we have lived in a nation of energy dependence. Dependence on others for our heating and electricity, and for our fuel for transportation.

- Mike Pompeo

Because of Iran's support for terrorism, disrespect for human rights, and nuclear proliferation, it has been under U.S. and international sanctions for decades - and companies have been fined billions for circumventing those sanctions.

- Mike Pompeo

You eventually have to figure out how to balance the books. So that's the reason I gave up my day job to come do this was to go fight to create the space where spending matches America's capacity to tax, and that means economic growth and a smaller, humbler federal government.

- Mike Pompeo

Science, innovation, safety and affordability. Who could oppose United States food policy based on these core principles? Unfortunately, this idea has become unnecessarily controversial in agriculture.

- Mike Pompeo

Even if Koch Industries had a financial interest in the Keystone XL pipeline, what possibly could be wrong with that? Perhaps more important, under what circumstances would such an interest be worthy of a congressional inquisition?

- Mike Pompeo

Through a voluntary national certification program, SAFLA will create uniform rules and definitions for foods carrying a GMO-free label, allowing consumers to understand and identify those products that fit their food preferences.

- Mike Pompeo

I'm not sure that too many Americans would choose the president to manage their retirement accounts.

- Mike Pompeo

In 2012, President Obama was faced with a new Egyptian leader, Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood. Instead of applying pressure to root him out, President Obama waived U.S. law and provided taxpayer aid to prop up the most radical elements within Egypt.

- Mike Pompeo

At some point, the government expands into the private sphere so far that you live in a place with a whole lot less freedom. I didn't like that that was the direction of travel for our country, and decided to come to Washington to try and be a small part of bringing it back.

- Mike Pompeo

As the urgency of the threat presented by Islamic extremism grows, we cannot afford to have the commander-in-chief issue executive orders in direct contravention of laws that he enacted.

- Mike Pompeo

All of our intelligence agencies, our Department of Defense, are all working to meet this threat. But it's a fast moving world; it's a place where offense is easier than defense, and keeping up with the next innovation in cyber-warfare is an enormous challenge.

- Mike Pompeo

As a member of the House Select Committee on Intelligence, I know that the CIA, Treasury Department, National Security Agency, and others work closely to keep tabs on the IRGC's operations.

- Mike Pompeo

It speaks to the incredible risk of doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran if American companies have to turn to federally guaranteed funding mechanisms to support their business there.

- Mike Pompeo

I have run two small businesses in Kansas, and I have seen how government can crush entrepreneurism. That's why I ran for Congress. It just so happens that there are a lot of people in south central Kansas who agree with me on that.

- Mike Pompeo

As we have seen both in healthcare and energy, passing reckless, ill-conceived massive bills usually create more problems than we solve.

- Mike Pompeo

My generation was the tail end of the Cold War.

- Mike Pompeo

What you find is, you have to deliver a product that has value to the customer. When you do, and I think the wind community is getting much closer to that, customers will want it.

- Mike Pompeo

In Wichita, the district I represent, the 'Air Capital of the World,' general aviation is critical to the proper functioning of our airspace and is a key driver of economic growth, innovation, and job creation.

- Mike Pompeo

President Barack Obama talks about the need to 'invest' in alternative energy sources. But the reality is that he is not investing his money - he's spending yours.

- Mike Pompeo

Charles Koch and David Koch, co-owners of Koch Industries, are U.S. citizens, taxpayers, entrepreneurs and employers.

- Mike Pompeo

Koch Industries is an amazing business that has succeeded by building a product that customers love dearly. The folks who run Koch are very clear. They would love to have government just get out of the way and allow companies to compete, whether in their particular sectors or other sectors. They are true believers in small government.

- Mike Pompeo

In Congress, I represent South Central Kansas, home to McConnell Air Force Base.

- Mike Pompeo

Creating a new air traffic control regulator outside of the FAA would be a risky and expensive undertaking, the consequences and costs of which would be borne by American taxpayers and the traveling public.

- Mike Pompeo

Feeding the world will be one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century. It will be impossible without using scientific advancements and biotechnology.

- Mike Pompeo

Non-commercial general aviation flights serve as a lifeline to thousands of communities where airlines do not fly, while contributing a fraction of total U.S. air traffic congestion.

- Mike Pompeo

Legal and bureaucratic impediments to surveillance should be removed.

- Mike Pompeo

The IRGC's tentacles are well hidden in the Iranian economy, making the risk of becoming entangled with the organization an impossible-to-quantify possibility.

- Mike Pompeo

The goal of isolating extremists and making them unwelcome in Muslim communities has been abandoned.

- Mike Pompeo

The Medical Society of Sedgwick County, the Kansas Hospital Association and doctors have really done some remarkable work on wellness-related issues.

- Mike Pompeo

The JCPOA can perhaps delay Iran's nuclear weapons program for a few years. Conversely, it has virtually guaranteed that Iran will have the freedom to build an arsenal of nuclear weapons at the end of the commitment.

- Mike Pompeo

Intent to harm America is not required to make the mishandling of information criminal - it simply requires that the actor was grossly negligent.

- Mike Pompeo

I am convinced that the steps contained in H.R. 624 are reasonable, acceptable, and valuable. The vast majority of members of Congress who take the time to study this legislation will agree.

- Mike Pompeo

As a member of Congress, I am part of a large group of elected officials who remain clear-eyed about the threat emanating from Tehran.

- Mike Pompeo

If Congress wants to reform our nation's air traffic control system, it must do so without creating new mandatory user fees and additional layers of regulatory bureaucracy.

- Mike Pompeo

As a result of the billions of dollars flowing into Iran after the JCPOA, the Iranian regime is able to increase its support to terrorist group groups like Hezbollah.

- Mike Pompeo

Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei and Assad are two sides of the same terror coin. Letting Assad continue to wield lethal power means that Tehran's terror network - from Hezbollah to the Houthis - will persist in threatening the West.

- Mike Pompeo

We stand for getting government out of the way, letting people make good decisions for themselves, in education, returning power to school boards and to teachers and to parents so they can educate the children.

- Mike Pompeo

The Safe and Affordable Food Labeling Act aims to address unnecessary impediments to feeding the world.

- Mike Pompeo

Advocates of GMO labeling aren't seeking a warning label. We're simply asking for a factual, non-judgmental disclosure on the back of the package.

- Mike Pompeo

I spent my whole life working hard.

- Mike Pompeo

The responsible choice? Steer clear of business with Iran.

- Mike Pompeo

Poll after poll shows that consumers want the right to know what's in their food and how it's produced. Because our food choices have such a significant impact on our lives, this is a trend that should be welcomed, not frustrated.

- Mike Pompeo

I am a West Point graduate and an Army veteran.

- Mike Pompeo

The federal government has been a proven failure in picking winners and losers in the energy sector.

- Mike Pompeo

I eat and breathe small government and freedom.

- Mike Pompeo

Hillary Clinton cannot be the president of the United States.

- Mike Pompeo

There's no doubt West Point impacted who I am... It has an enormous emphasis, not only on military aspects, but character development. Whether it's the honor code, or the interactions you have, both with the cadet leadership and the academy leadership, every place you are is a character test.

- Mike Pompeo

Private monopolies run by special interests should not get to raise taxes and set regulatory policy for the United States.

- Mike Pompeo

It should surprise no one that I'm out arguing for small government, reduced spending and getting our financial house in order, along with reasonable regulations and no more.

- Mike Pompeo

To reap the benefits of GMO technology, the U.S. must ensure that decisions about our food system are made based on science, not innuendo.

- Mike Pompeo

An enormous piece of the cost in our health care system today is driven by lifestyle decisions, and so we all have an effort to do better.

- Mike Pompeo

When it comes to reforming the way our skies are regulated, we must be certain that as we work to solve specific problems, we do not create others.

- Mike Pompeo

Any candidate who thinks that we only need to attack ISIS from the sky, without regard to where they flourish and why, shares President Obama's view that Iran is our partner in peace.

- Mike Pompeo

I think Secretary Clinton tried to hide every one of her emails. She destroyed 30,000 of them.

- Mike Pompeo

Secretary Clinton was warned repeatedly about her duty to secure classified information and that her unsecure server did not meet that standard.

- Mike Pompeo

Paul Ryan is a solid conservative.

- Mike Pompeo

Conservatives have deep distrust of government power, so I not only understand their privacy concerns, I share them.

- Mike Pompeo

I do not want to put U.S. companies in a position where their competitors are behaving in a way that is inconsistent with the way they are required to behave. That is neither fair, nor will it solve the problem.

- Mike Pompeo

I still remember the first acronym I learned, BLUF: Bottom Line Up Front. I still try to communicate that way. No reason to dance around getting to the point.

- Mike Pompeo

If you need a tax credit to compete, you are probably not that competitive.

- Mike Pompeo

The Islamic State has apparently gained control of several dozen kilograms of radioactive material from research institutions in Mosul, Iraq. It cannot be made into a nuclear bomb, but it could be used in a 'dirty bomb' to contaminate a wide area with radioactivity.

- Mike Pompeo

No one has ever escaped from Guantanamo Bay. It is by far the most secure detention facility in the world.

- Mike Pompeo

It's much too easy to come here illegally and very, very difficult to become an immigrant through lawful process. I think we need to reverse those.

- Mike Pompeo

The military tribunals currently underway at Guantanamo Bay create a clear legal process, as affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, for adjudicating the cases of these terrorists, when possible. Those efforts would be severely undercut by moving the detainees to the United States.

- Mike Pompeo

GMOs play a central role in meeting the challenge of providing affordable and nutritious food to consumers all over the world.

- Mike Pompeo

In many cases, an expansion of Medicaid will not only drive taxpayer costs but will deliver lower-quality care than what they have today.

- Mike Pompeo

We must recognize that we cannot allow the Islamic State to continue to present an existential threat to America.

- Mike Pompeo

At some point, an industry has to either succeed or fail on its own merits.

- Mike Pompeo

I'd start a business again in a heartbeat. Indeed, I hope that one day I may get the chance to do so when my mission here in Washington, D.C. is complete.

- Mike Pompeo

The Democrats' obsession with the Kochs as a political target is, indeed, additional evidence of a truly Nixonian approach to politics.

- Mike Pompeo

To say the U.S. government is targeting U.S. persons, to listen to their phone calls and read their emails, is just false.

- Mike Pompeo

There are many Muslims of good will and despise this extremism as much as anyone of any other faith.

- Mike Pompeo

Less intelligence capacity equals less safety.

- Mike Pompeo

The sooner we act, the sooner we can start turning the tables on cyberattackers.

- Mike Pompeo

My goal in getting rid of tax loopholes is not to raise taxes. Our problem in Washington, D.C. is not a revenue problem, it is a spending problem.

- Mike Pompeo

We now see hacking taking place by foreign governments and by private individuals all around the world.

- Mike Pompeo

It would be wise for the U.S. private sector to stay away from Iran.

- Mike Pompeo

As conservatives, we support free market principles and believe the private sector provides solutions that the government cannot.

- Mike Pompeo

One of the very first serious books I read when I was growing up was 'Atlas Shrugged.'

- Mike Pompeo

I am proud to serve on the House Intelligence Committee, and every day, I see the lifesaving work of our men and women in uniform.

- Mike Pompeo

If terrorists are already on our southern border, a national-security failure has already occurred.

- Mike Pompeo

I know how to stay focused on a mission.

- Mike Pompeo

I am a deeply committed conservative who wants to keep maximal privacy for every U.S. citizen.

- Mike Pompeo

One of the things you don't always realize when you're younger is that not everything you try is going to work.

- Mike Pompeo

GTMO has been a goldmine of intelligence about radical Islamic terrorism.

- Mike Pompeo

We must not allow last year's mistakes to cloud our judgment today.

- Mike Pompeo