CIA Director Mike Pompeo declined to invite the press to the CIA’s annual holiday party this year after journalists had been welcomed to the event for consecutive years in a row.
Pompeo has been a frequent critic of the media. One Obama-era official told Politico that he would have actually been “more surprised” if he didn’t end the tradition.
Extending the invite to reporters became a norm over the past several years; the last time the CIA seems to have nixed inviting press was in 2011 when the party was made a more low-key affair amid a budget crisis.
The event was seen as an opportunity for officials and reporters to meet in a pleasant, friendly atmosphere, and journalists would be able to talk to officials who might normally snub them.
Pompeo was tapped by President Trump to lead the intelligence agency in January after serving as a Congressman from Kansas.
