Daily Archives: October 10, 2019

Ambassador P. Michael McKinley, Senior Advisor to Pompeo, Quits

October 10, 2019 By in Ambassadors, Foreign Service, FSOs, Mike Pompeo, Pompeo, Realities of the FS, Resignations, Secretary of State, State Department, Top Ranks, Ukraine Tags: , ,

 

Ambassador P. Michael McKinley, Senior Adviser to the Secretary of State has reportedly resigned from his post. Citing “a person familiar with the situation”, WaPo reported  that “McKinley felt that Pompeo had been a positive force compared to his predecessor, Rex Tillerson, in terms of encouraging alternative views within the department, as well as lifting a Tillerson freeze on promotions and prohibitions against spouses working abroad.”  Also that “Like many others, he was disappointed in the secretary’s lack of public support for diplomats who have been named in the Ukraine controversy and called to testify before House committees conducting the impeachment inquiry into the actions of Trump and his personal attorney, Rudolph W. Giuliani.”
Pompeo ‘s statement about McKinley’s departure is reportedly forthcoming. We’re bracing for a revelation about this departure.  We hope Pompeo’s minders have a more creative excuse for this departure … like Ambassador McKinley is leaving because he wants to start a farm in Oregon, or Ambassador McKinley is writing a book, and going on a book tour. Something like that. We’re getting tired of being told that an official would like to spend more time with her/his family. Or that this departure is “as planned” as PA folks like to put it when things are certainly not “as planned.”

Via state.gov

P. Michael McKinley was appointed to the position of Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State in May 2018. He most recently served as the U.S. Ambassador to Brazil from 2017-2018, and as the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan from 2014 to 2016. He was also U.S. Deputy Ambassador to Afghanistan from 2013 to 2014. Ambassador McKinley was the U.S. Ambassador to Colombia from 2010-2013 and the U.S. Ambassador to Peru from 2007-2010. He was Deputy Chief of Mission and Charge d’Affaires at the U.S. Mission to the European Union in Brussels between 2004 and 2007. From 2001-2004, he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. Between 1994 and 2001, Ambassador McKinley was Deputy Chief of Mission and Charge d’ Affaires at U.S. Embassies in Mozambique, Uganda, and Belgium. Earlier assignments include U.S. Embassy London (1990-94), three tours in Washington (1985-90), and Bolivia (1983-85). Ambassador McKinley joined the Foreign Service in 1982. Ambassador McKinley was born in Venezuela and grew up in Brazil, Mexico, Spain, and the United States. He did his undergraduate and graduate studies in the United Kingdom, and has a doctorate from Oxford University. His history of colonial Venezuela was published by Cambridge University Press as part of its Latin America series, and also appeared in a Spanish edition.