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As President Donald Trump redirects U.S. resources to operations closer to home, former Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and Mike Pompeo have warned that America's adversaries could benefit from a reduced global presence.
Clinton told her audience Wednesday that she had heard of internal discussions at the Pentagon advocating a “spheres of influence” model that would concentrate U.S. power in the Western Hemisphere while allowing Russia to dominate Eastern Europe and China to control much of East Asia.
“It appears that there is a group in the Pentagon that is advocating for these spheres of influence… I think it's a disaster. And I think that weakens us in relation to our main problem, which is… the Chinese Communist Party,” she said during a discussion at Columbia University.
The remarks come as the Pentagon expands counternarcotics and maritime security missions in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific and expands the U.S. military presence in the Southern Command region to its highest level in decades, a shift that reflects Trump's renewed emphasis on prioritizing the Western Hemisphere.
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Clinton warned of internal discussions at the Pentagon promoting a “spheres of influence” model that would effectively put the United States in charge of the Western Hemisphere while allowing Russia to dominate Eastern Europe and China to control much of East Asia. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Last week the US said it would withdraw a rotational infantry brigade mainly based in Romania, as well as some forces in Slovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria.
Clinton, who was an early architect of the Obama administration's “pivot to Asia” strategy during her 2009–2013 tenure. State DepartmentAny retreat from the Indo-Pacific region would cause instability and signal weakness to US adversaries, he said.
Pompeo largely agreed, saying the United States should strive for global “American hegemony” based on Western values and should never cede leadership to rivals.
“I agree with almost everything Secretary Clinton said there,” Pompeo said. “I want American values to dominate the world for the next 250 years… I want to influence every sphere of influence.”
“I agree with almost everything Secretary Clinton said there,” Pompeo said. “I want American values to dominate the world for the next 250 years… I want to influence every sphere of influence.” (Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images)
Despite the War Department's prioritization of the Western Hemisphere, Secretary of State Pete Hegseth promised that the United States would “firmly defend” its interests in the Indo-Pacific region.
Pompeo had particularly harsh words for China even as US-China relations show preliminary signs of easing after Trumprecent meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“We shouldn't use the words 'competition' and 'Chinese Communist Party' in the same sentence… The Chinese Communist Party wants to cut our heads off,” he said, adding: “They killed 10 million people and didn't lose a moment's sleep when the virus was imposed on the world.”
Pompeo, who served as secretary of state and CIA director in the first Trump administration, also said China had given North Korea its blessing to send troops to help Russia in its war with Ukraine.
“There are 13,000 North Koreans in this conflict today,” he said. “They didn’t go there without Xi Jinping asking Chairman Kim… to go.”
Clinton, meanwhile, accused congressional Republicans of remaining silent when the White House oversteps its authority, citing Trump's repeated extensions of the deadline to sell TikTok or ban it in the US.
“Their tongues should be completely bitten off because they don’t say anything,” Clinton said.
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“We shouldn't be using the words 'competition' and 'Chinese Communist Party' in the same sentence… The Chinese Communist Party wants to cut our heads off,” Pompeo said, adding: “They killed 10 million people and didn't lose a moment of sleep when the virus was forced across the world.” (Lintao Zhang/getty images)
She warned that social media is now shaping – and in some cases distorting – public opinion, posing a “huge danger to democracy”. Clinton also said that TikTok “was recognized as a bipartisan decision by Congress under the control of the Chinese Communist Party.”
Pompeo echoed these concerns. “I'm concerned about the fact that TikTok has influencers who shape your opinions and that it's largely controlled by the Chinese Communist Party,” he said.
The pair of former officials hit it off years after Pompeo promised to release more of her emails ahead of the 2020 election. Trump expressed disappointment that Pompeo's State Department had not released more emails that Clinton was known to send from a private server during her time at the department's helm.
“We're doing this as quickly as we can,” Pompeo told Fox News at the time, predicting there would be “more to watch before the election.”
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“It’s pathetic,” Clinton told The New York Times of Pompeo’s promise.
Pompeo also criticized Clinton's “failures” related to Benghazi andrampant corruption“
