# Tom Cotton to CIA? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 30, 2017, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cotton-to-cia/803164 "2017-11-30T18:01:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2017, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cotton-to-cia/803164/1 "2017-11-30T18:01:00Z")
I[t’s being reported as a possible plan.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/11/30/white-house-readies-plan-to-replace-tillerson-with-pompeo-install-cotton-at-cia/) It’s hard to understand how a guy like Cotton could even think of such a thing. Here he is a young guy with a relatively safe seat, and to give that up for what’s likely to be a very short and frustrating term working for a tempestuous moron seems crazy. If he does, though, he deserves what’s coming to him. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2017, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cotton-to-cia/803164/2 "2017-11-30T18:26:57Z")
I agree. I could understand if he wanted to be Secretary of State, but CIA? I’m not seeing the attraction of the job. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2017, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cotton-to-cia/803164/3 "2017-11-30T19:59:32Z")
It’s unfortunate that such an unapologetic partisan should be considered for a post that should be isolated from partisanship. I think the same thing about Mike Pompeo, who has been criticized recently for putting a partisan spin on Russia’s efforts to subvert our elections. [Link.](http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/19/politics/cia-pompeo-russia-meddling-election/index.html) I think Cotton is about twenty times more partisan than Pompeo, and that’s saying something. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2017, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cotton-to-cia/803164/4 "2017-11-30T20:04:46Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I agree. I could understand if he wanted to be Secretary of State, but CIA? I’m not seeing the attraction of the job. Wouldn’t you want to look through everyone’s [del]files[/del] dossiers? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2017, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cotton-to-cia/803164/5 "2017-11-30T20:45:28Z")
Mr Cottons publicly belligerent stance on Iran troubles me. Was there something in the recent past about garbled and slanted “intelligence” being delivered to regrettably powerful people? My memory isn’t as good as it used to be. Or maybe it is, and I just don’t remember… ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2017, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cotton-to-cia/803164/6 "2017-11-30T22:27:34Z")
I can certainly see the appeal. CIA Director is a job like no other, and he would be guaranteed a lifetime of employment in the intelligence community afterward, without ever having to run for re-election. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2017, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cotton-to-cia/803164/7 "2017-11-30T22:54:23Z")
> > [@](#): > > Source familiar confirms to me that ADM Robert S. Harward has been talking to the White House about becoming CIA Director. So maybe Cotton doesn’t have it in the bag? Harward is same guy that turned down the NSA job calling working in the WH a “shit sandwich.” ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2017, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cotton-to-cia/803164/8 "2017-11-30T22:57:25Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Wouldn’t you want to look through everyone’s [del]files[/del] dossiers? That was my first thought as to why he might cotton to the job. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2017, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cotton-to-cia/803164/9 "2017-12-01T01:04:14Z")
The bigger story is that, supposedly, the current CIA director, Pompeo, will move over the State and it’s buh-bye Tillerson. I just read that in the NYT, and after checking saw that it was also in the WaPo article linked to in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2017, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cotton-to-cia/803164/10 "2017-12-01T01:24:16Z")
I feel like Cotton heading the CIA will lead to American tragedies. I suspect he will not act in accord with wisdom but in accord with a love of his own cleverness. And he’ll be too clever by half and get suckered into something bad for America. Think the GWB Admin & Chalabi et al but with less reluctance to making war and greater hubris. atodaso ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2017, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cotton-to-cia/803164/11 "2017-12-01T09:17:53Z")
If you liked Iraq and Afghanistan, you’re gonna _love_ what Tom Cotton’s going to do with Iran. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2017, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cotton-to-cia/803164/12 "2017-12-01T09:42:12Z")
I imagine that Trump has suggested Cotton to some people in the Republican Senate, and they’ve basically told him that Cotton couldn’t get the votes. That’s probably the origin of the story. At this moment in time, with all the nonsense that Trump has put them through, I have to assume that the Republican party will only let Trump pull Pompeo out of the CIA if Trump can send them a replacement that’s a genuine upgrade. Pompeo is probably sane enough and deep enough “in” with the rest of the Republican party that there’s not a lot of people that Trump would accept who would be better than him. On the other hand, I think that the great experiment with Tillerson has somewhat run its course. The Republican party would probably consider Pompeo an upgrade, simply because he’d have a better idea of what the Department of State does and how to go about running or changing it, but the general range of upgrades also wider than it is with the Director of the CIA. (Though, probably still excludes Cotton.) If Trump wants to get rid of Tillerson, he’ll have an easier job of it by simply leaving Pompeo in place. > [@GrandWino](#): > > [x.com](https://twitter.com/KenDilanianNBC/status/936358881130934277) > So maybe Cotton doesn’t have it in the bag? Harward is same guy that turned down the NSA job calling working in the WH a “shit sandwich.” That man looks like someone went down to central casting and asked for someone that looks like a tough, modern military admiral. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2017, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cotton-to-cia/803164/13 "2017-12-01T12:10:28Z")
I confess to having elitist tendencies myself, so I can’t fault the senator on that alone; however, I get the feeling that he’s not just an elitist, but a religious authoritarian - and that’s not good. > **[The Making of a Conservative Superstar](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/09/the-making-of-a-conservative-superstar/380307/)** > > Tom Cotton is the ultimate product of today's hard-edged, ideologically driven Republican Party. Is that what Arkansas voters want? > [@](#): > > Cotton’s thesis fills in some of these gaps—in ways some might find disturbing. A cogent and tightly argued document, it reveals the depth and intellectual roots of his reverence for American traditions. It also reveals a contrarian devotion to some ideals that seem out of date today. Cotton insists that the Founders were wise not to put too much faith in democracy, because people are inherently selfish, narrow-minded, and impulsive. He defends the idea that the country must be led by a class of intellectually superior officeholders whose ambition sets them above other men. Though Cotton acknowledges that this might seem elitist, he derides the Federalists’ modern critics as mushy-headed and naive. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2017, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cotton-to-cia/803164/14 "2017-12-01T12:13:39Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > I imagine that Trump has suggested Cotton to some people in the Republican Senate, and they’ve basically told him that Cotton couldn’t get the votes. That’s probably the origin of the story. > > At this moment in time, with all the nonsense that Trump has put them through, I have to assume that the Republican party will only let Trump pull Pompeo out of the CIA if Trump can send them a replacement that’s a genuine upgrade. Pompeo is probably sane enough and deep enough “in” with the rest of the Republican party that there’s not a lot of people that Trump would accept who would be better than him. > > On the other hand, I think that the great experiment with Tillerson has somewhat run its course. The Republican party would probably consider Pompeo an upgrade, simply because he’d have a better idea of what the Department of State does and how to go about running or changing it, but the general range of upgrades also wider than it is with the Director of the CIA. (Though, probably still excludes Cotton.) > > If Trump wants to get rid of Tillerson, he’ll have an easier job of it by simply leaving Pompeo in place. > > That man looks like someone went down to central casting and asked for someone that looks like a tough, modern military admiral. I have a hard time believing a military hero wouldn’t get the votes; his seat would be replaced with a Republican, so I doubt that they’re concerned about losing his seat right now. I do wonder if the Republicans are worried about losing next year’s house and senate races by a wider than expected margin. Arkansas is a red state but it has until fairly recently been influenced by blue dog democratic politics. In a bad year, it’s still possible for a blue dog to retake the odd republican seat. That might be the concern. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2017, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cotton-to-cia/803164/15 "2017-12-01T13:21:45Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > I have a hard time believing a military hero wouldn’t get the votes; I think you underestimate how big a deal the CIA is to the Federal government. Regardless of how much everyone might like and respect Cotton, he’s a 40 year old with no experience running anything greater than a platoon and only 4 years experience in government, and looks mildly goofy. Pompeo is a West Point grad, served in the military, founded and ran a successful aerospace and security company for 8 years, ran another company for 2 years, has served as a politican for 7 years, is 53, and looks like a man that gives no shits. I’m sure that Cotton would get “some” votes, but ultimately the party heads and everyone in the relevant committees would run the names of any potential candidates past the top ranks in the CIA and try to get a sense for whether the agents would accept the candidate or start spiking everyone’s punch. If the latter, then they’ll tell the White House that it’s a “no go”. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2017, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cotton-to-cia/803164/16 "2017-12-01T17:46:02Z")
What about the so called ‘suicide pact’ between Tillerson, Mattis and Mnuchin? Does the WH have people ready go fill in those positions if they suddenly open up? ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2017, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cotton-to-cia/803164/17 "2017-12-01T19:57:54Z")
Well, so, I seem to be entirely incorrect. Or they went ahead and did the deed, without checking with Congress. Since, it seems, that this is the work of John Kelly, not Trump, I have to assume that they did get approval from Congress to begin with, but I still find it a strange decision. Cotton doesn’t have the leadership experience to run such an organization, so far as I can tell from his Wikipedia page. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2017, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cotton-to-cia/803164/18 "2017-12-02T05:31:49Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > I confess to having elitist tendencies myself, so I can’t fault the senator on that alone; however, I get the feeling that he’s not just an elitist, but a religious authoritarian - and that’s not good. > > [The Making of a Conservative Superstar - The Atlantic](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/09/the-making-of-a-conservative-superstar/380307/) > > > [@](#): > > > > Cotton’s thesis fills in some of these gaps—in ways some might find disturbing. A cogent and tightly argued document, it reveals the depth and intellectual roots of his reverence for American traditions. It also reveals a contrarian devotion to some ideals that seem out of date today. Cotton insists that the Founders were wise not to put too much faith in democracy, because people are inherently selfish, narrow-minded, and impulsive. He defends the idea that the country must be led by a class of intellectually superior officeholders whose ambition sets them above other men. Though Cotton acknowledges that this might seem elitist, he derides the Federalists’ modern critics as mushy-headed and naive. The problem with all this is that I don’t think Cotton is intellectually superior to, well, me. My immediate impression of him is that he’s a goober pretty boy who may be intellectually superior to Joe Sixpack, but inferior to practically everyone he would oversee in an executive post. The Ivy League produces con artists who have themselves been conned into believing they are superior intellects. It’s pretentious and toxic. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2017, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cotton-to-cia/803164/19 "2017-12-02T07:19:58Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2017, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cotton-to-cia/803164/20 "2017-12-02T09:16:15Z")
Cotton certainly has presidential ambitions. I’m not quite sure how a partial Senate term followed by director of the CIA helps that. True, he gets to avoid a long lot of votes that tend to follow Senators around when they run for President. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cotton-to-cia/803164.md?page=2)