WASHINGTON, DC: John Ratcliffe has been confirmed to lead the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) after the Senate confirmed his appointment.
Notably, this is the second major appointment under the second Trump administration after Marco Rubio was appointed the US Secretary of State, earlier this week.
Confirming the news, the White House shared a post on X and wrote, “@JohnRatcliffe ‘s confirmation as Director of the CIA marks a significant step in advancing President Trump’s vision to restore America’s strength on the world stage.”
🇺🇸 @JohnRatcliffe‘s confirmation as Director of the CIA marks a significant step in advancing President Trump’s vision to restore America’s strength on the world stage.
America is BACK. pic.twitter.com/MXm5ChLbIJ
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 23, 2025
A total of 74 senators voted in favour of Ratcliffe, while 25 voted against him. One senator did not cast a vote.
To confirm the nomination, only a simple majority was needed, but the result witnessed a good difference of 49 votes. This vote took place during the first session of the 119th Congress.
Notably, John Ratcliffe previously served as the Director of National Intelligence from May 2020 until January 2021, making him the first person to ever serve as both Director of the CIA and Director of National Intelligence, the White House stated.
As DNI director, Ratcliffe led a shift in the US Intelligence Community’s priorities to gain a decisive strategic advantage over the People’s Republic of China and provided oversight of numerous operations to remove designated terrorist leaders from the battlefield.
Director Ratcliffe also made the historic decision to elevate space to a priority intelligence domain by adding the US Space Force as the 18th member of the US Intelligence Community and received the National Security Medal, the nation’s highest honour for distinguished achievement in the field of intelligence and national security, according to White Hosue.
Prior to serving as DNI, Ratcliffe served for over five years as the US Representative for the 4th Congressional District of Texas.
As a Congressman, Ratcliffe was a leading policy maker on national security issues as a member of the House Intelligence, Homeland Security and Judiciary committees. (ANI)