US President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Mike Waltz to lead the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), replacing former Director of National Intelligence (DNI) John Ratcliffe.
There was speculation that Indian-origin former Republican House staffer Kashyap ‘Kash’ Patel might be appointed CIA chief, but Trump ultimately selected Ratcliffe for the role.
Trump praised Ratcliffe’s track record, saying, “From exposing the Clinton campaign’s fraudulent Russian collusion to pursuing civil liberties abuses by the FBI in FISA court, John Ratcliffe has always been a crusader for truth and honesty with the American people.” Are.” He added, “When 51 intelligence officials were lying about Hunter Biden’s laptop, one of them, John Ratcliffe, was telling the truth to the American people.”
Trump recalled presenting the National Security Medal to Ratcliffe in 2020, emphasizing, “For these and many other reasons, it was my great honor in 2020 to present the National Security Medal to John Ratcliffe, who served as the Intelligence and National It is the country’s highest honor for distinguished achievement in the field of security.”
Ratcliffe previously served as the sixth Director of National Intelligence, overseeing the US intelligence community and advising Trump during his first term. Notably, just weeks before the 2020 presidential election, he led an unusual late-night news conference with other officials, accusing Iran of running a campaign of intimidating emails targeting voters in the US.
His tenure as DNI was filled with controversy, including his decision to declassify Russian intelligence providing damaging information about Democrats from the 2016 election, even though he acknowledged that the information was unverified. Democrats criticized the move as a partisan act that politicizes intelligence.
Ratcliffe also made headlines when he rejected the claims of dozens of former intelligence officials who suggested that emails attached to Hunter Biden’s laptop, which was left at a Delaware repair shop, resembled a Russian disinformation campaign . Ratcliffe responded, “The intelligence community does not believe that because there is no intelligence that supports it.”
Ratcliffe first entered Congress in 2014 and gained significant visibility as a staunch defender of Trump during the first impeachment proceedings in 2019.
Who is Kash Patel?
Kashyap Patel, whose name was being speculated for the CIA role, has extensive experience in the defense and intelligence sector. He was chief of staff to Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller and gained Trump’s favor through his work on the “Nunes Memo”, which criticized the Justice Department’s surveillance practices. Patel later served in key positions in the Trump administration, including Senior Director of the Counterterrorism Directorate at the National Security Council (NSC) and Principal Deputy Director to Acting DNI Richard Grenell.
((With inputs from The Associated Press)