Instant Alert: Meet Tom Cotton, the Arkansas senator with Trump's ear who graduated from Harvard in 3 years and might become the next head of the CIA

MANAGE SUBSCRIPTIONS   |   UNSUBSCRIBE   |   VIEW ONLINE   Meet Tom Cotton, the Arkansas senator with Trump's ear who graduated from Harvard in 3 years and might become the next head of the CIA by Michal Kranz on Nov 30, 2017, 4:45 PM Advertisement President Donald Trump may be replacing secretary of state Rex Tillerson with current CIA director Mike Pompeo by the end of the year, The New York Times reported on Thursday. Pompeo's probable successor? Young Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas. The White House denied the report, and has tamped down rumors that Tillerson is exiting the administration for months. But Cotton is a rising conservative star, and has emerged as one of Trump's closest congressional advisers on foreign policy and national security. If Trump offered him the CIA position, he would accept it, according to the Times. After the report, Cotton's spokesman said that his "focus is on serving Arkansans in the Senate." The junior senator has found himself at the center of national politics and policy in Trump's DC, and has come a long way since his small-town beginnings in Arkansas. Here's a rundown of his impressive career so far: DON'T MISS: Intelligence veterans blast Tom Cotton as pro-torture, 'partisan,' and 'wholly unfit' to lead the CIA SEE ALSO: Thousands of constituents pepper Cotton with tough questions on Obamacare repeal at raucous town hall event Tom Cotton was born in Dardanelle, Arkansas in 1977. He graduated from Harvard University in only three short years, where he wrote a 92-page thesis on the Federalist papers, and worked at the prestigious Harvard Crimson. Sources: The Atlantic, Harvard Crimson After finishing graduate school and working in law, Cotton enlisted in the US Army as an infantryman in 2005, serving tours in Afghanistan and as a member of the storied 101st Airborne in Iraq. Cotton wrote that he was motivated to join the armed forces after 9/11. Sources: Tom Cotton, Politico In 2006, Cotton wrote a letter to The New York Times from Baghdad accusing the paper of violating the espionage act by detailing a US program that tracked terrorist financing. The Times didn't publish the letter, but it went viral in the conservative blogosphere. Sources: Power Line, Snopes See the rest of the story at Business Insider   Share the latest business news with your network:    Email sent to: nguyenvu1187.love5@blogger.com   |   Manage your email preferences   |   Unsubscribe Terms of Service   |   Privacy Policy Business Insider. 150 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011