Alva Review-Courier -

Many of our readers may remember reading about 1975 Burlington High School graduate Jennifer Schubert-Akin. She is sister to Yvonne Miller who wrote this article. She and her husband Rick reside in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. They co-founded the Steamboat Institute and just held their 13th annual Freedom Conference in Beaver Creek, Colorado. Jennifer is CEO.

Keynote speaker for the conference was former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo under President Trump from April 2018 to January 2021. He was director of the CIA from January 2017 to April 2018. Pompeo served four terms as a U.S. congressmember from the Kansas 4th District. Prior to serving in Congress he spent a decade leading two manufacturing businesses in south central Kansas – Thayer Aerospace and Sentry International, an oilfield equipment manufacturing, distribution and service company. His wife, Susan, attended the Freedom Conference with him. They have a son, Nick.

Pompeo graduated first in his class at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He graduated from Harvard Law School where he was editor of the Harvard Law Review.

Pompeo Lists the Greatest Threat to America as?

(Ed. note: This speech was made on the weekend just before the Aug. 31 U.S. deadline to withdraw from Afghanistan.)

Pompeo took the stage at the Freedom Conference as Keynote Speaker for an outside evening dinner for donors surrounded by the purple mountain majesties of the Rocky Mountains.

"I get asked all the time, 'What's the greatest threat to the republic?' Is it Chairman Kem in China? Is it Vladimir Putin in Russia? Is it the threat of terrorism from radical Islamists? I will tell you the greatest threat to the United States of America is our failure to educate the next generation of Americans. Our failing educational institutions are something our adversaries are spurring on. They understand if we get it wrong in our central institutions, in our faith institutions, in our K-12 schools, in our colleges and universities around America, and our Kiwanis Clubs and Moose Lodges, and institutes like this one – if we refuse to stand up and defend the values we all know to be central to our nation, then no secretary of state has a prayer of securing the freedoms that matter so much to each and everyone of us. Our educational institutions are under attack. And each of you has a responsibility to find a place to go fight against what they are trying to do."

Regarding problems in central Asia and Afghanistan, Pompeo said he and President Trump began with a broader understanding that they had their resources allocated properly. "So President Trump was absolutely committed to getting our kids back home, to have a smaller footprint in Afghanistan. I'll never forget it was my second day as secretary of state. President Trump said, 'Mike, you have two objectives you need to achieve. You have to get 'em home as fast as we can. Second, we have to reduce the risk we are ever attacked from that place again.'"

Pompeo said although President Trump pushed and wanted Americans to get back even more quickly than the state department could execute, each time his team came and explained to him why they had to do this in a measured and orderly way. "He honored the understandings we laid out to him."

"This did not happen in the current administration. This administration chose to take the stack and pull the pin out. I'll never forget, we went from about 15,000 U.S., forces and equivalent number of NATO forces along side of us to roughly 8,600 then down to about 4,500."

During this time Pompeo was working with the Afghan leaders – some he said are "some of the most corrupt I encountered." He worked with Taliban leaders "bad guys, didn't trust them – neither did the boss." He was working with the Northern Alliance, western groups, women's group, etc. "Our mission set was to try and create a process in which Afghans could reunite their country so that we wouldn't have another civil war."

"We knew this would reduce American risk here at home and for our soldiers who were fighting," he said. "We also knew if we got this wrong that the threat to the homeland would increase rapidly. And that's what I fear you are going to see in about 96 hours. It didn't have to be this way. We watched the administration violate the most central principals about how one thinks about restructuring."

The former secretary of state said how the United States has been in this fight just a couple of weeks short of 20 years to the day.

"We knew it was civilians first out – military last out. They flipped the script," Pompeo said of the current administration's controversial exit from Afghanistan where Americans were left behind with the Taliban in control. Under the Trump administration, Pompeo said they reduced the footprint of the American embassy in Kabul "significantly in my time."

Pompeo spoke of his experience, such as former CIA director, had run a big piece of the American security operations and other positions that helped him from letting the conflict spiral into the U.S.

"We find ourselves today in an incredibly difficult place. I hope you all will pray for the President to make good decisions and be bold. We have thousands of Americans stuck there – most of who want to come home."

What Pompeo is Doing Now, Calls Schubert-Akin a Pipehitter

Moving on, Pompeo joked about being an unemployed former diplomat. He created the Cav Pack, a nod to his days as a young soldier. He said, "Its mission is pretty clear – talk about freedom and ride to the sound of the guns and be fearless and never give an inch in this conservative fight you all are in."

He's traveling the U.S., promoting conservative principals and congressional candidates for 2022. Pompeo said as Secretary of State his department spread the word to their counterparts in other countries about the American tradition and "our founding."

"When we talked to diplomats in other countries we wanted them to know that their countries' founding were totally separate than ours. But that our vision had created the most exceptional nation in the history of civilization." He described himself as an evangelical Christian.

Pompeo told a story about when he was collecting a group of people who could deliver for America. As he and an assistant discussed the possible team, the assistant would call some a "pipehitter," meaning a person is fearless; would not let a speed bump seem like a mountain; who was fearless and going to execute what task they were assigned.

"You all have a pipehitter here at the Steamboat Institute. You're a pipehitter, Jennifer," Pompeo complimented the CEO of the Steamboat Institute. He urged everyone attending the freedom conference to go out and help in some way as the SI urges and be a pipehitter – serve on a local school board, city council or other – just do something.

He said, "When you have someone tell you they don't do politics, remind them that politics does them."

At the end of Pompeo's remarks, he was joined on stage by Mary Kissel who was Pompeo's senior advisor when he was secretary of state. She's now executive vice president and Senior Policy Advisor for Stephen's Inc. She had a long and distinguished career at the Wall Street Journal editorial board.

Kissel asked many of her own questions ranging from Afghanistan to his remarkable travels around the world spreading a positive message from the U.S., not apologizing for the freedom and success here due in part to capitalism. The audience texted Kissel questions she also asked Pompeo.

As the onstage interview came to an end, Pompeo told the crowd, "As a Judeo Christian, I know what this country has given to me and I still have this enormous debt to it as well. This fight is worth staying in and I don't know from exactly what parts, but I promise you all I will continue to stay in the fight in some place in some way, and that I am counting on each of you to do the same."