John Ratcliffe
United States official; CIA Director from January 2025; former DNI
| John Ratcliffe
| |
|---|---|
| Image |  Official CIA portrait, 2025. |
| Born | 20 October 1965 Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Nationality | United States |
| Occupation | Lawyer; politician; intelligence official |
| Known for | Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (from 2025); Director of National Intelligence (2020–2021); U.S. Representative for Texas's 4th district (2015–2020) |
| Education | University of Notre Dame (BA); Southern Methodist University (JD) |
John Lee Ratcliffe (born 20 October 1965) is a United States lawyer and Republican politician who has been Director of the Central Intelligence Agency since 23 January 2025.[1][2][3] He previously served as the sixth Director of National Intelligence from May 2020 to January 2021 under President Donald Trump, and the CIA states that he is the first person to have held both the DNI and CIA Director posts.[3][2][4]
Early life, education and legal career
The House Office of the Historian records that Ratcliffe was born in Chicago, Illinois, on 20 October 1965, graduated from Carbondale Community High School in 1983, received a BA from the University of Notre Dame in 1987 and a JD from Southern Methodist University in 1989, practised law, taught, served as United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas in 2007–08, and was mayor of Heath, Texas, from 2004 to 2012.[1] The CIA leadership page likewise records Notre Dame and SMU law degrees and notes earlier service as chief of anti-terrorism and national security and then as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, as well as a later law-firm partnership with former Attorney General John Ashcroft.[3]
Congress
Ratcliffe was elected as a Republican to the U.S. House of Representatives for Texas's 4th congressional district and served from 3 January 2015 until his resignation on 22 May 2020.[1] The CIA states that he sat on the House Intelligence, Homeland Security and Judiciary committees.[3]
Director of National Intelligence
Ratcliffe served as Director of National Intelligence in the Cabinet of President Trump in 2020–21.[1] NBC News reported that the Senate confirmed him as DNI in May 2020 by 49–44 amid Democratic opposition over qualifications and résumé claims.[5] The CIA's institutional biography states that as DNI he shifted intelligence-community priorities toward competition with the People's Republic of China, exercised oversight of counterterrorism operations, and, as a member of the National Space Council, supported elevating space as an intelligence domain and adding the U.S. Space Force to the intelligence community.[3] On 22 October 2020 the Office of the Director of National Intelligence published his remarks at a press conference on election security held at FBI headquarters with FBI Director Christopher Wray. He said the President had instructed the intelligence and law-enforcement communities "to ensure the 2020 elections are the safest and most secure in our nation’s history".[6]
Tom Griffin records that Ratcliffe was accused of politicising the DNI office by declassifying information on Trump–Russia investigations at key points in the 2020 presidential campaign, while also noting bipartisan support for his China focus.[4]
Director of the CIA
On 23 January 2025 the Senate confirmed Ratcliffe as CIA Director by 74 votes to 25, with 21 Democrats joining Republicans according to NBC News.[7][5] The CIA announced that he was sworn in the same day by Vice President JD Vance as the 25th Director.[2]
According to the agency's own leadership page, under his leadership CIA increased foreign intelligence collection by 25 per cent and created the Americas and Counternarcotics Mission Center, a Directorate of Mission Systems and a Mission Center for Cyber Intelligence; the same page names operations MIDNIGHT HAMMER, ABSOLUTE RESOLVE and EPIC FURY among activities in which the CIA says it played a critical role.[3]
According to Tom Griffin, one of Ratcliffe's first acts as Director was to publicise a "low confidence" CIA analysis suggesting a Chinese laboratory leak as the most likely origin of the Covid-19 virus.[4]
See also
- Central Intelligence Agency
- Office of the Director of National Intelligence
- William Burns
- Gina Haspel
- Michael Ellis
External links
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Office of the Historian, U.S. House of Representatives, RATCLIFFE, John, Biographical Directory entry, accessed 6 November 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Central Intelligence Agency, John Ratcliffe Sworn in as CIA Director, 23 January 2025, accessed 6 November 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Central Intelligence Agency, Director of the CIA, accessed 6 November 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Tom Griffin, John Ratcliffe, Intelligence History, 6 December 2024, accessed 6 November 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Sahil Kapur and Frank Thorp V, Senate confirms John Ratcliffe to be Trump's CIA director, NBC News, 23 January 2025, accessed 6 November 2026.
- ↑ Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Press Releases 2020, including "DNI John Ratcliffe’s Remarks at Press Conference on Election Security", 22 October 2020, archived 28 January 2021, accessed 7 November 2026.
- ↑ US Senate, Roll Call Vote 119th Congress – 1st Session, Vote 13, 23 January 2025, archived 23 January 2025, accessed 6 November 2026.