A National Security Discussion with Lt. General (Ret.) H.R. McMaster and Secretary Mike Pompeo

The New Albany Lecture Series brings together leading authorities on national security, Lt. General (Ret.) H.R. McMaster and Secretary Mike Pompeo, in a discussion moderated by Jim Sciutto.

Lt. General (Ret.) H.R. McMaster
H. R. McMaster was the 25th Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. He served as a commissioned officer in the United States Army for thirty-four years before retiring as a Lieutenant General in June 2018. H.R. is the Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Distinguished University Fellow at Arizona State University, and lecturer at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.

H.R. was commissioned as an officer in the United States Army upon graduation from the United States Military Academy in 1984. He holds a PhD in military history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

McMaster has extensive experience leading soldiers and organizations in wartime in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom, in Iraq during Operation Desert Storm, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. He also served overseas as advisor to the most senior commanders in the Middle East. From 2014 to 2017 McMaster designed the future Army as Director, Army Capabilities Integration Center and Deputy Commanding General, Futures, US Army Training and Doctrine Command. As Commanding General, Maneuver Center of Excellence and Fort Benning, he oversaw all training and education for the Army’s infantry, armor, and cavalry force.

H.R. led important strategic assessments including the revision of Iraq strategy during the ‘surge’ of 2007 and efforts to develop security forces and governmental institutions in post-war Iraq. In 2009-2010 he led an assessment and planning effort to develop a comprehensive strategy for the greater Middle East.

McMaster was an assistant professor of history at the United States Military Academy from 1994 to 1996 where he taught undergraduate courses in military history and history of the Korean and Vietnam Wars as well as a graduate course on the history of military leadership for officers enrolled in the Columbia University MBA program. He teaches graduate courses at Stanford on contemporary challenges to international security and building strategic competence.

H.R. has authored three New York Times bestselling books. Dereliction of Duty: Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Lies that Led to Vietnam and Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World examine the most critical foreign policy and national security challenges that the United States has faced. Released in August 2024, his latest book, At War with Ourselves: My Tour of Duty in the Trump White House, recollects his time serving under President Trump’s first administration. H.R. has published scores of essays, articles, and book reviews on leadership, history, and the future of warfare in many publications including Foreign Affairs, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, New Republic and The New York Times. He was a contributing editor for Survival: Global Politics and Strategy from 2010-2017. Currently, he hosts the Hoover Institution interview series Battlegrounds: Vital Perspectives on Today’s Challenges and is a regular on the Hoover Institution broadcast series Goodfellows.

He is a distinguished graduate of the United States Military Academy. His military awards include the Silver Star Medal, the Bronze Star Medal with oak leaf cluster, and the Purple Heart.

Secretary Mike Pompeo
Michael R. Pompeo served as the 70th Secretary of State of the United States, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and was elected to four terms in Congress representing the Fourth District of Kansas. Mike graduated first in his class from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1986. He served as a cavalry officer in the U.S. Army, leading troops patrolling the Iron Curtain. Mike left the military in 1991 and then graduated from Harvard Law School, having served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review. Up next was almost a decade leading two manufacturing businesses in South Central Kansas – first in the aerospace industry and then making energy drilling and production equipment. In 2010, Mike watched the government grow too big and decided to run for Congress. He won and was re-elected three more times to represent South Central Kansas – the heartland of America. Becoming America’s most senior spy, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, was Mike’s next chance to champion American values. President Donald Trump saw that good work and decided to make Mike America’s 70th Secretary of State. As our nation’s most senior diplomat in the Trump Administration and President Trump’s chief negotiator, Mike helped to craft U.S. foreign policy based on our nation’s founding ideals that put America First. America became a massive energy exporter and a force for good in the Middle East, with real peace cemented in the Abraham Accords. Mike placed special emphasis on renewing alliances with key allies, including India, Japan, Australia, and South Korea. He also led a return to America’s founding principles and a focus on every human life being worthy and the protection of the unborn. The largest human rights gatherings ever held at the State Department occurred under his leadership. Mike’s new book, Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love, which was released in January 2023, includes stories from his heart detailing his time as Secretary of State and CIA Director and was named a New York Times bestseller. Married to Susan, Mike and his wife have one son, Nick. Mike and Susan were thrilled to see their family grow to include a daughter-in-law when Nick married his wife, Rachael, in 2022! The Pompeos dedicated many volunteer hours to their home church — including teaching 5th grade Sunday School and Mike’s time as a church Deacon.

Mike and Susan’s two retrievers, Sherman and Mercer, each named after important American generals, are patriots too!

Jim Sciutto
Jim Sciutto is CNN’s chief national security correspondent and co-anchor of CNN Newsroom airing Monday through Friday from 9 to 11 a.m. ET alongside Poppy Harlow.

He reports and provides analysis across the network’s programs and platforms on all aspects of U.S. national security including foreign policy, the military, intelligence community, and the ongoing Russia investigation. Sciutto also serves as a fill-in anchor for several of the network’s programs.

Sciutto has reported from throughout Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Arctic with the U.S. military and senior U.S. leaders and played a key role in CNN’s overseas coverage of the Charlie Hebdo and Paris terrorist attacks in France and the violent elections in the Ukraine.

Sciutto is the author of a book on the driving forces behind Islamic radicalization, Against Us: The New Face of America’s Enemies in the Muslim World, and a second book on Russian and Chinese efforts to undermine the U.S., entitled The Shadow War, published in 2019 by Harper Collins.

Sciutto’s one-hour CNN special, Targeting Terror: Inside the Intelligence War, was recognized with a 2016 Headliner Award for documentaries and his reporting from inside Iran during the 2009 election protests earned him an Edward R. Murrow award. He was also awarded the George Polk Award and a citation for Excellence from the Overseas Press Club for his undercover reporting from Myanmar, where he bucked government restrictions to tell the stories of that country’s repressive regime. Additionally, his reporting for the series Iraq: Where Things Stand was recognized with an Emmy Award for two consecutive years.

Prior to joining CNN, Sciutto served as ABC News’ senior foreign correspondent, based primarily in London and later in Washington. In his role, he reported from more than 50 countries across the globe including dozens of assignments from inside Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran.

Prior to ABC News, he served as the Hong Kong-based correspondent for Asia Business News. A graduate from Yale University with a bachelor’s degree in Chinese history, Sciutto began his career as the moderator and producer of a weekly public affairs talk show on PBS.

Sciutto has also served as chief of staff and senior advisor to the U.S. Ambassador to China, Gary Locke.

Along with CNN colleagues Jake Tapper, Carl Bernstein and Evan Perez, Sciutto was awarded the White House Correspondence Association’s Merriman Smith Award in the broadcast category for their January 2017 report on how the intelligence community believed Russia had compromising information on then President-elect Trump.

Jim is married to Gloria Riviera-Sciutto, Washington Correspondent for ABC News.