"Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security Andrea Thompson is a dedicated public servant who brought over 25 years of military experience to her role at the State Department," Pompeo said in a note on her departure. "Her wealth of knowledge, experience and leadership skills will be missed."
The United States has recently taken considerable steps in arms control. On 2 August, the US formally withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) Treaty, citing alleged Russian violations of the treaty. Moscow has insisted that its missiles complied with the accord. Following the suspension of the INF treaty by the Trump administration, the US intelligence agency accused Russia of violating a nuclear test moratorium under the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), presenting no evidence to back up the claim.