Donald Trump announced that former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe will serve as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), stating in a press release:
I am pleased to announce that former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe will serve as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
From exposing fake Russian collusion to be a Clinton campaign operation, to catching the FBI’s abuse of Civil Liberties at the FISA Court, John Ratcliffe has always been a warrior for Truth and Honesty with the American Public. When 51 intelligence officials were lying about Hunter Biden’s laptop, there was one, John Ratcliffe, telling the truth to the American People.
For these and many other reasons, it was my great honor in 2020 to award John the National Security Medal, the Nation’s highest honor for distinguished achievement in the field of Intelligence and National Security.
I look forward to John being the first person ever to serve in both of our Nation’s highest Intelligence positions. He will be a fearless fighter for the Constitutional Rights of all Americans, while ensuring the Highest Levels of National Security, and PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH.
The Trump-Vance transition press release also included a brief biography on Ratcliffe:
John Ratcliffe previously served as the sixth Director of National Intelligence (DNI). In that role, Director Ratcliffe served as the leader of the U.S. intelligence community and principal intelligence advisor to President Trump.
Prior to his nomination and confirmation as DNI, Director Ratcliffe served in Congress for over five years as the U.S. Representative for the 4th Congressional District of Texas. As a Congressman, he was a leading policy maker on national security issues as a member of the House Intelligence and Judiciary Committees and as Cybersecurity Chairman on the Homeland Security Committee.
In response to the announcement, former Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Ezra Cohen said he worked with Ratcliffe during the first Trump administration when he opposed parts of the intelligence community involved in election interference, stating in a post on X:
Winning. @JohnRatcliffe is a tremendous fighter. I had the pleasure of being his Director of Defense Intelligence at ODNI. I witnessed him doggedly stand against parts of the IC that tampered with intel re CCP attempts to interfere in the election against President Trump.
