Senate confirms John Ratcliffe as head of CIA

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate confirmed Thursday John Ratcliffe as CIA DirectorPresident Donald Trump’s nominee to head America’s first spy agency and his second nominee to win Senate approval.

Ratcliffe was director of national intelligence during Trump’s first term and is the first person to have held this position and the highest position in the CIA. The Texas Republican is a former federal prosecutor who emerged as a staunch Trump defender while serving as a member of Congress during Trump’s first impeachment.

The vote was 74-25, with many Democrats voting no.

To his Senate hearing last weekRatcliffe said the CIA needs to do better when it comes to using technologies such as artificial intelligence to confront adversaries including Russia and China. He said the United States must improve its intelligence capabilities while ensuring Americans’ civil rights are protected.

Ratcliffe said he would push the CIA to do more to exploit technologies such as AI and quantum computing while expanding the use of human intelligence collection.

“We are not where we are supposed to be,” Ratcliffe told members of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

While some Democrats raised questions about Ratcliffe’s ability to lead the CIA in an objective manner, Republicans praised his experience and said they looked forward to confirming the rest of Trump’s national security nominees.

Ratcliffe was sworn in shortly after winning Senate confirmation.

Former Florida Senator Marco Rubio was confirmed earlier this week as secretary of state, the first member of Trump’s cabinet.

The CIA director has not always been part of a president’s cabinet, although President Joe Biden elevated the position to cabinet level under Ratcliffe’s predecessor, William Burns, and under the Trump White House. Ratcliffe lists as a member of the Cabinet.

Trump and other Republicans have criticized the work of the CIA and other spy agencies, saying they have focused too much 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 secure.

Ratcliffe said he views China as the United States’ greatest geopolitical rival and that Russia, Iran, North Korea, drug cartels, hacker gangs and terrorist organizations also pose challenges. challenges to national security.

He supports the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a government spying program that allows authorities to collect the communications of non-Americans outside the country without a warrant. If these people communicate with Americans, those conversations may also be swept aside, raising questions about personal rights violations.

Like other Trump nominees, Ratcliffe is a Trump loyalist. Beyond his work to defend Trump during his first impeachment proceedingsRatcliffe too questioned forcefully former special counsel Robert Mueller when he testified before lawmakers about his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

As director of national intelligence, Ratcliffe oversaw and coordinated the work of more than a dozen spy agencies. Among other tasks, the office leads efforts to detect and counter foreign efforts to influence U.S. policy.

Trump chose Ratcliffe to fill the position in 2019, but he quickly removed from consideration after lawmakers raised questions about his qualifications. It was finally confirmed by a very divided Senate after Trump resubmitted the nomination.

In this position, Ratcliffe was accused by Democrats of politicizing intelligence when he Russian intelligence declassified which claimed to reveal information about Democrats in the 2016 election, even though it acknowledged that the information might not be accurate.

Before Thursday’s confirmation vote, Democrats questioned whether Ratcliffe would put his loyalty to Trump ahead of office. Concerns raised by Democrats earlier in the week forced the Senate to delay Ratcliffe’s confirmation vote for two days.

Trump’s nominee for second-term director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, will likely face a tougher path to confirmation. Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, has faced bipartisan issues critical due to past pro-Russian comments and 2017 meetings with then-Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Gabbard’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee is scheduled for January 30.