Secrecy befits the quest for a difficult diplomatic breakthrough. But if a breakthrough is what was sought, then there’d be little reason to announce the mission after the first high-level overture — particularly when there are no concrete results to be demonstrated. And while sending someone who has the personal confidence of the president but is not an official American diplomat makes sense if you want to feel out the other side while retaining deniability regarding any proposals that individual might make, if that individual has already been announced as the president’s choice to serve as top diplomat, he’d logically be an even weaker negotiating partner than either a confirmed secretary or an outsider, because he’d still have to face a difficult grilling before the Senate that might reveal sensitive points in an ongoing negotiation.

Was the Senate perhaps the real target of the mission? Pompeo was hardly assured of confirmation before. But now, rejecting him might be interpreted to be a rejection of diplomacy with North Korea. Might that move some votes into his column? Or might it provoke the opposite response, nervousness on the part of hawks coupled with anger from senators who expect to be kept more appropriately in the loop?