John Ratcliffe confirmed as next CIA director, becomes second Trump nominee to gain congressional approval

John Ratcliffe was confirmed to be the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on Thursday, making him the second of President Donald Trump’s cabinet picks to secure their position. 

The Senate’s full approval of Ratcliffe came after a 14-3 vote by the Senate Intelligence Committee on Monday evening, which advanced Ratcliffe’s nomination to the Senate floor Thursday. By a vote of 74-25, Ratcliffe was confirmed. 

Ratcliffe previously served as Trump’s Director of National Intelligence (DNI) from May 2020 until January 2021, during the president’s first term in office. At the time, Ratcliffe faced scrutiny over whether he was adequately qualified for the role and whether his loyalty to Trump might cloud his judgment. Ratcliffe’s eventual nomination was approved along party lines.   

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Donald Trump’s nominee for CIA Director, John Ratcliffe, appears for a Senate Intelligence confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill on Jan. 15, 2025 in Washington, DC. Ratcliffe, a former conservative congressman from Texas, served as Director of National Intelligence during Trump’s first term. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images) 

Prior to Ratcliffe’s role as DNI, he was a member of the House of Representatives since 2015, serving Texas’s 4th Congressional District. During Ratcliffe’s tenure in Congress, he served on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence from 2019 until his move to DNI the following year.

Ratcliffe’s confirmation this time around has garnered support from some Democrats, including from the top Democrat on the Senate’s intel committee, Rep. Mark Warner of Virginia, who voted in favor of Ratcliffe’s confirmation.

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U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for CIA Director John Ratcliffe speaks with former Attorney General John Ashcroft (R) as he arrives for a Senate Intelligence confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill on January 15, 2025 in Washington, DC. Ratcliffe, a former conservative congressman from Texas, served as Director of National Intelligence during Trump’s first term. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

During Ratcliffe’s first confirmation hearing last week, when lawmakers probed him over how he would handle the role as CIA director if confirmed, Ratcliffe said he would eliminate politicization and “wokeness” in the agency’s workforce. Ratcliffe added that he plans on focusing on the agency’s approach to technology, saying that he thinks it has struggled to keep pace with the tech evolution occurring in the private sector.

Ratcliffe will also take a hawkish stance towards China, too, according to people close to Ratcliffe, the Wall Street Journal reported last week.

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Ratcliffe’s confirmation makes him the second of Trump’s nominees to garner congressional approval, after Marco Rubio. The Republican-controlled Senate said it plans to work overtime to get the rest of Trump’s nominees approved quickly, with Senate Majority Leader John Thune insisting in a post on X, formerly Twitter, Tuesday evening, that they would work “nights, weekends, recesses” until the process is complete.