On Thursday, the Senate confirmed John Ratcliffe to lead the Central Intelligence Agency in an overwhelmingly bipartisan fashion, making him the second member of President Trump’s national security team to be approved by the upper chamber.
Senators confirmed Ratcliffe in a 74-25 vote. Twenty-one members who caucus with Democrats voted with every present Republican. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) did not vote.
“He will bring valuable knowledge and experience to his new post,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said on the floor earlier this week, pointing to Ratcliffe’s tenure as Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and on the House Intelligence Committee. “Mr. Ratcliffe brings the right experience and the right approach to the CIA, and I look forward to working with him in his new position.”
Ratcliffe’s nomination cleared the Senate Intelligence Committee, 14 to 3. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the panel’s vice chairman, was among Ratcliffe’s backers.
During his confirmation hearing, he specifically told Democrats that he would keep the CIA apolitical and would not fire any agency employees based on political leanings or opposition to the president.
He’s also received bipartisan high marks for his stance on China, having been a long-time proponent of combating the Chinese Communist Party — a topic that came up during his confirmation hearing last week.
“Understand that the nation who wins the race of emerging technologies of today will dominate the world of tomorrow,” Ratcliffe said at the time. “Which brings me to the need for the CIA to continue and increase an intensity to focus on the threats posed by China and its ruling Chinese Communist Party. As DNI, I dramatically increased the intelligence community’s resources devoted to China.”
The vote comes after the chamber unanimously confirmed Secretary of State Marco Rubio and puts half of Trump’s initial national security team in place, with Senate Republicans planning on moving on the other half “in the coming days,” according to Thune.
