Publication

In March 2018, US President Trump appointed Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State, Gina Haspel as the Director of Central Intelligence and John Bolton as National Security Advisor. This paper contends that such appointments have raised concerns that the Trump administration is now likely to get policy options on Iran and North Korea from a more hawkish team, increasing the possibility of new US regime change operations. To provide insights into what the appointments could mean, the text’s author here compares the contemporary situation in Washington to the period that saw the rise of the Neo-Conservative agenda in 1997-2002, particularly given Bolton’s connection with that era.