WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Thursday confirmed John Ratcliffe as director of the CIA, giving President Donald Trump the second member of his new Cabinet.
Ratcliffe served as Director of National Intelligence during President Trump’s first term and is the first person to hold that position and top position at the CIA, America’s top intelligence agency. The Texas Republican is a former federal prosecutor who emerged as a fierce Trump defender while serving as a member of Congress during Trump’s first impeachment.
At a Senate hearing last week, Ratcliffe said the CIA must do better in using technologies such as artificial intelligence to confront adversaries, including Russia and China. He said the United States must improve its intelligence capabilities while protecting the civil rights of Americans.
Ratcliffe said that if confirmed, he would push the CIA to do more to leverage technologies such as AI and quantum computing while also expanding its use of human intelligence collection.
“We are not where we need to be,” Ratcliffe told members of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Democrats have questioned Ratcliffe’s objectivity and whether his loyalty to Trump will politicize Ratcliffe’s positions and blind him to his duties. Concerns from Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., led Senate Republican leaders to postpone Ratcliffe’s confirmation vote, originally scheduled for Tuesday.
Former Florida Sen. Marco Rubio was confirmed as secretary of state, the first member of Trump’s cabinet, earlier this week.
Ratcliffe sees China as America’s biggest geopolitical rival, and said Russia, Iran, North Korea, drug cartels, hacking gangs and terrorist organizations also pose national security challenges.
He supports the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a government spy program that allows authorities to collect without a warrant the communications of non-Americans outside the United States. If those people were talking to Americans, those conversations could also be swept up, raising questions about violations of personal rights.
President Trump and other Republicans have criticized the CIA and other intelligence agencies for being too focused on climate change, workforce diversity and other issues.
Calls for a broad overhaul have worried some current and former intelligence officials who say the changes could make the country less safe.
Like other Trump candidates, Ratcliffe is a Trump loyalist. In addition to his efforts to defend Trump during the first impeachment proceedings, Ratcliffe vigorously questioned former special counsel Robert Mueller when he testified before lawmakers about the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
As Director of National Intelligence, Ratcliffe oversaw and coordinated the work of more than a dozen intelligence agencies. Among other duties, this office directs efforts to detect and respond to foreign efforts to influence U.S. politics.
Trump nominated Ratcliffe for the job in 2019, but quickly withdrew from consideration after lawmakers questioned his qualifications. After Trump resubmitted his nomination, he was eventually confirmed by a sharply divided Senate.
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In that position, Ratcliffe was criticized by Democrats for politicizing intelligence when he declassified Russian intelligence that he claimed revealed information about Democrats during the 2016 election cycle, even though he acknowledged the information may be inaccurate.
Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s second-term nominee for Director of National Intelligence, faces an even more difficult road to confirmation. Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, has faced bipartisan criticism for her past comments supporting Russia and her 2017 meeting with then-Syrian President Bashar Assad.
