WASHINGTON – The Senate confirmed John Ratcliffe as CIA director on Thursday, giving President Donald Trump the second member of his new Cabinet.
Ratcliffe served as director of nationwide intelligence throughout Trump’s first time period and is the primary particular person to carry that place and the highest job on the CIA, the nation’s prime spy company. The Texas Republican is a former federal prosecutor who emerged as a fierce defender of Trump whereas serving as a congressman throughout Trump’s first impeachment.
The vote was 74-25.
During his Senate listening to final week, Ratcliffe mentioned the CIA must do extra on the subject of utilizing applied sciences like synthetic intelligence to tackle adversaries together with Russia and China. He mentioned the United States should enhance its intelligence capabilities whereas guaranteeing that Americans’ civil rights are protected.
Ratcliffe mentioned that, if confirmed, he would push the CIA to do extra to take advantage of applied sciences corresponding to synthetic intelligence and quantum computing, whereas increasing using human intelligence assortment.
“We usually are not the place we ought to be,” Ratcliffe instructed members of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Democrats have raised questions on Ratcliffe’s objectivity and whether or not his loyalty to Trump would push him to politicize his place and blind him to the duties of the job. Concerns from Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., pressured Senate Republican leaders to postpone Ratcliffe’s affirmation vote, initially scheduled for Tuesday.
Former Florida Sen. Marco Rubio was confirmed earlier this week as secretary of state, the primary member of Trump’s Cabinet.
Ratcliffe mentioned he views China as America’s best geopolitical rival and that Russia, Iran, North Korea and drug cartels, hacker gangs and terrorist organizations additionally pose nationwide safety challenges.
He helps the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a authorities spy program that enables authorities to gather the communications of non-Americans outdoors the nation and not using a warrant. If these individuals talk with Americans, these conversations will also be swept away, which has led to questions on private rights violations.
Trump and different Republicans have criticized the work of the CIA and different spy companies, saying they’ve targeted an excessive amount of on local weather change, workforce variety and different points.
Calls for a broad evaluate have apprehensive some present and former intelligence officers who say the modifications might make the nation much less protected.
Like different Trump candidates, Ratcliffe is a Trump loyalist. Aside from his work defending Trump throughout his first impeachment proceedings, Ratcliffe additionally forcibly questioned former particular counsel Robert Mueller when he testified earlier than lawmakers about his investigation into Russian interference within the 2016 election.
As director of nationwide intelligence, Ratcliffe oversaw and coordinated the work of greater than a dozen spy companies. Among different duties, the workplace directs efforts to detect and counter overseas makes an attempt to affect U.S. politics.
Trump tapped Ratcliffe to fill that place in 2019, however he shortly withdrew from consideration after lawmakers raised questions on his {qualifications}. He was in the end confirmed by a carefully divided Senate after Trump resubmitted the nomination.
In that work, Ratcliffe was accused by Democrats of politicizing intelligence when he declassified Russian intelligence that presupposed to reveal details about Democrats throughout the 2016 election, whilst he acknowledged that the knowledge might not be correct.
Trump’s second-term nominee for director of nationwide intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, faces a more durable street to affirmation. Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, has confronted bipartisan criticism for previous feedback supporting Russia and for 2017 conferences with then-Syrian President Bashar Assad.
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