--- title: Mike Pompeo Cancels Harvard Appearance Over Chelsea Manning description: CIA Director Mike Pompeo cancelled a scheduled appearance at Harvard University after it hired Chelsea Manning as a fellow canonical: https://time.com/4942882/mike-pompeo-cia-director-protests-chelsea-manning-harvard/ author: Abigail Abrams article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-15T00:40:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T11:14:58.378Z article:section: Politics og:title: CIA Director Mike Pompeo Cancels Harvard Appearance Over Chelsea Manning Hire og:description: Another former CIA official resigned his own fellowship over the hire og:url: https://time.com/4942882/mike-pompeo-cia-director-protests-chelsea-manning-harvard/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa4fdfef41d124df/6988ddec8fd2ee029d358de5/mike-pompeo-cia-director-harvard-chelsea-manning.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Intelligence Chiefs Testify At Senate Intelligence Hearing On World Wide Threats og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: CIA Director Mike Pompeo Cancels Harvard Appearance Over Chelsea Manning Hire twitter:description: Another former CIA official resigned his own fellowship over the hire twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa4fdfef41d124df/6988ddec8fd2ee029d358de5/mike-pompeo-cia-director-harvard-chelsea-manning.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # CIA Director Mike Pompeo Cancels Harvard Appearance Over Chelsea Manning Hire by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Sep 15, 2017 12:40 AM UTC  Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee with the other heads of the U.S. intelligence agencies in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill May 11, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee with the other heads of the U.S. intelligence agencies in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill May 11, 2017 in Washington, D.C.Alex Wong—Getty Images by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Sep 15, 2017 12:40 AM UTC CIA Director Mike Pompeo cancelled a scheduled appearance at Harvard University on Thursday over the university’s Kennedy School of Government hiring of [Chelsea Manning](http://time.com/4832576/chelsea-manning-nyc-pride/?iid=sr-link9) as a visiting fellow. “While I have served my country as a soldier in the United States Army and will continue to defend Ms. Manning’s right to offer a defense of why she chose this path, I believe it is shameful for Harvard to place its stamp of approval upon her treasonous actions,” Pompeo said in a letter to Harvard on Thursday, according to [NBC News](https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/ex-cia-boss-resigns-harvard-after-chelsea-manning-hire-n801341?cid=sm%5Fnpd%5Fnn%5Ftw%5Fma). The Kennedy School announced [Manning’s fellowship](https://www.hks.harvard.edu/announcements/institute-politics-harvard-kennedy-school-announces-additional-visiting-fellows) on Wednesday, along with its other new fellows, including former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer. Manning, a former Army intelligence analyst, was [convicted of leaking](http://time.com/4633920/wikileaks-julian-assange-extradition-chelsea-manning/) a trove of military and State Department documents. She served seven years in prison before former President Barack Obama [commuted her sentence](http://time.com/4781963/chelsea-manning-released-prison-wikileaks/?iid=sr-link10) in January. Pompeo was not the only CIA official to take issue with Manning’s appointment. Former CIA Acting Director Michael Morell on Thursday also resigned from his own position as a senior fellow at the Kennedy School in protest of Manning joining the school. “Unfortunately, I cannot be part of an organization — the Kennedy School — that honors a convicted felon and leaker of classified information, Ms. Chelsea Manning, by inviting her to be a Visiting Fellow at the Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics,” Morell wrote in [a letter ](https://twitter.com/Mosheh/status/908367178067574784)to the school’s dean, Douglas Elmendorf, according to NBC. Morell’s letter detailed Manning’s convictions and said that while he supports her rights as a transgender American, he did not feel it was appropriate for the Kennedy School to host her. Pompeo supported Morell’s letter in his own statement. For their part, the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics, where Manning will serve as a fellow, stood by its decision. “Broadening the range and depth of opportunity for students to hear from and engage with experts, leaders and policy-shapers is a cornerstone of the Institute of Politics,” Bill Delahunt, acting director of the Institute of Politics, told NBC. “We welcome the breadth of thought-provoking viewpoints on race, gender, politics and the media.” Mike Pompeo Cancels Harvard Appearance Over Chelsea Manning ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4942882/mike-pompeo-cia-director-protests-chelsea-manning-harvard/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4942882/mike-pompeo-cia-director-protests-chelsea-manning-harvard/"},"headline":"CIA Director Mike Pompeo Cancels Harvard Appearance Over Chelsea Manning Hire","datePublished":"2017-09-15T00:40:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T11:14:58.378Z","description":"Another former CIA official resigned his own fellowship over the hire","url":"https://time.com/4942882/mike-pompeo-cia-director-protests-chelsea-manning-harvard/","keywords":["Harvard","Chelsea Manning","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa4fdfef41d124df/6988ddec8fd2ee029d358de5/mike-pompeo-cia-director-harvard-chelsea-manning.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Abigail Abrams","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfa4fdfef41d124df/6988ddec8fd2ee029d358de5/mike-pompeo-cia-director-harvard-chelsea-manning.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Intelligence Chiefs Testify At Senate Intelligence Hearing On World Wide Threats","caption":"Intelligence Chiefs Testify At Senate Intelligence Hearing On World Wide Threats","creditText":"Alex Wong—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/harvard/","name":"Harvard"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4942882/mike-pompeo-cia-director-protests-chelsea-manning-harvard/","name":"CIA Director Mike Pompeo Cancels Harvard Appearance Over Chelsea Manning Hire"}}]}] ```