Most of Pompeo’s remarks concerned the mission of the Central Intelligence Agency and its importance in a world of terrorism and nation-state skulduggery. Pompeo acknowledged that many people have a sinister impression of the CIA, in part because they do not (and cannot) know exactly what the agency does on a daily basis.

He teased a few classified missions that would surely blow the minds of his audience if he could divulge the details, including one carried out by a very young CIA officer that “would be rejected as implausible by any worthy publisher,” were it submitted as an espionage novel.