CIA director Mike Pompeo cancelled a scheduled appearance at Harvard Thursday after the university hired Chelsea Manning, a former Army private and leaker who Pompeo described as an “American traitor.”
The cancellation came hours after former CIA deputy director Mike Morell resigned from his position at the school over Manning’s hiring. The university on Wednesday announced Manning’s appointment as a visiting fellow at the Kennedy School Institute of Politics.
In a letter explaining his decision to cancel, Pompeo said he was disappointed with Harvard’s decision to hire Manning, “a traitor to the United States of America.”
“Ms. Manning betrayed her country and was found guilty of 17 serious crimes for leaking classified information to Wikileaks. Wikileaks is an enemy of the United States,” his letter read.
“Ms. Manning swore an oath to the United States Constitution, promised to protect her fellow soldiers, and signed a commitment to abide by the law,” the letter continued. “She did none of that and yet Harvard has placed her in a position of honor.”
Pompeo underscored that his decision was not informed by Manning’s gender identity, but by her “traitorous” actions that put lives at risk.
“Ms. Manning stands against everything the brave men and women I serve alongside stand for,” he wrote.
Pompeo, a Harvard law graduate himself, said he was especially dismayed by Manning’s appointment because of the message it sends to current students at the university.
“Harvard’s actions implicitly tell its students that you too can be a fellow at Harvard and a felon under United States law,” he wrote. “I believe it is shameful for Harvard to place its stamp of approval upon her treasonous actions.”
Pompeo also applauded Morell’s decision to resign—but said he was saddened by the trade Harvard chose to make: “a respected individual who served his country with dignity,” in exchange for one “who served it with disgrace.”
