mike pompeo Leah Millis/Reuters

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo should step down.

He’s played fast and loose with the facts, undermining his credibility on the world stage.

Pompeo has sought to politicize his office, a move no other secretary of state has taken.

For the good of America, Pompeo needs to go.

Brett Bruen was the director of global engagement in the Obama White House and a career American diplomat. He runs the crisis-communications agency Global Situation Room.

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It is time for Mike Pompeo to step down as secretary of state.

He’s lost the credibility needed to be America’s top diplomat. He’s lost control of our foreign policy. He’s lost the confidence of his staff at the State Department.

For months, the complaints about his leadership slowly but steadily piled up. I’ve certainly had concerns, which I shared in this column. He came in promising to restore diplomats‘ swagger, but mostly stomped all over them. Pompeo’s time at the helm has been marked by more proposed budget cuts, even greater policy concerns, and regularly running afoul of the rules.

Those issues were disturbing, but not disqualifying. The damage he has done to the office in the last few weeks is on a whole different level.

Pompeo dangerously placed personal and political interests above those of the nation and his department. With our international influence at historic lows, we can little afford a discredited secretary of state. To salvage what remains of our global strength, he needs to leave.

Playing loose with the facts

You cannot do diplomacy if nobody believes what you say.

When first asked about President Donald Trump’s call with leader of Ukraine, the secretary feigned ignorance. Turns out he was in the room. His own adviser testified before Congress that he raised the need to publicly support our ambassador in Kyiv to Pompeo several times, something Pompeo denied in an earlier interview. It was disturbing to many at home and sent his word to rock bottom abroad.

When pressed by journalists who come bearing facts, Pompeo often lashes out and accuses them of working for the Democratic Party. To see a US secretary of state use tactics similar to an authoritarian leader is not just shameful; it absolutely shatters our standing worldwide.

US security depends on world leaders believing what he says. Things start to fall apart when they don’t. We depend a lot on others to take up our fights, as the case of the Kurds illustrates so clearly. We also avoided a lot of fights precisely because of the power our words carried.

When our most important diplomatic voice is not truthful or trusted, the US runs the risk of becoming no different from Beijing, Moscow, or any other regime ridiculed for its preposterous claims. We will have to expend significantly more time and resources trying to convince countries of the validity our arguments. Of equal concern, promises made to other nations, allies or adversaries, will no longer be considered as credible.

Putting politics first

There is another key reason Pompeo needs to go: his flagrant politicizing of the office.

The secretary of state has long eschewed domestic politics, and we used to say that party affiliations end at the waters‘ edge. Other cabinet secretaries could be provocatively partisan, but that wasn’t the role of the person leading our nation’s diplomats abroad.

Pompeo disposed of that tradition and continued to play the role of an unscrupulous politician, even going so far as to have the State Department organize several high-profile events in his home state of Kansas as rumors still swirl about a possible run for Senate.

But it’s his obstruction of congressional oversight that’s most worrisome. Pompeo has dramatically driven the department out of the legal lanes. An unaccountable foreign policy comes with considerable consequences for the country, as we have learned the hard way through difficult experiences like Iran Contra and Kissinger’s meddling in Latin America.

The transcripts released this week by the House Intelligence Committee detail a world of shadow diplomacy that brings to mind those infamous affairs. His own ambassadors and envoys describe a secretary unable to control our country’s foreign policy and to protect his own people. That he’d seek to shield those serious issues from view endangers our system and his staff further.

Poor performance is another reason for Mike to take a hike. He’s failed to make any progress on every major issue — North Korea, Venezuela, Iran — in his portfolio.

When our ambassadors have to fear for their safety because you’re unwilling or unable to defend them, it’s time to go. The distrust at Foggy Bottom is palpable and pervasive. Senior leaders chose to defy him and testify before Congress. One of his closest advisers jumped ship because of his failure to act. As Foreign Policy recently highlighted, these are just the most public in a series of hit his reputation has suffered within the department.

Pompeo’s credibility has crumbled. He has lost the support of his staff. He has lost ground on every major foreign-policy issue. He politicized our national security. Every day that he remains secretary of state, America becomes weaker and more vulnerable.