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CIA candidate John Ratcliffe is explaining to senators on Wednesday how he will change the intelligence community in what he calls “the most challenging national security environment in our nation’s history.”
Ratcliffe, who served as director of national intelligence during President-elect Trump’s first term, testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee. The committee will then vote on his nomination before a full Senate vote to confirm him as director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Ratcliffe ticked off the country’s biggest threats: China, the border, the Russia-Ukraine war and the risk of nuclear fallout, Iran, North Korea and “increasing coordination among America’s rivals.”
At a time when intelligence and law enforcement agencies have found themselves front and center in the political arena, a source familiar with Ratcliffe told Fox News Digital that he has focused on “ depoliticize” the agency and “remove any distractions” from its core mission of obtaining intelligence.
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Ratcliffe is also expected to push for more aggressive spying operations, particularly in Beijing, where PCC operatives they have been spying on the US for years.
“With Trump and Ratcliffe, the days of China looting American companies, infecting American infrastructure, and otherwise attacking and abusing the American people are over. The jackals can only search the lion’s dominion for so long before they break their heads.” the source said.
Ratcliffe outlined plans in his opening statement to increase the agency’s ability to obtain human intelligence “in every corner of the world, no matter how dark or difficult.”
“We will produce insightful, objective, all-source analysis, never allowing political or personal bias to cloud our judgment or infect our product,” Ratcliffe will say in his opening statement.
“We will be conducting covert operations under the direction of the President, going places no one else can go and doing things no one else can do. To the brave CIA officers listening around the world, if this all sounds like what you signed up for . . then buckle up and get ready to make a difference, if not, it’s time to find a new line of work.”
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Ratcliffe said he would try to recruit officers who could be described as “a PhD who could win a bar fight”, but promised to fully investigate anomalous health incidents such as Havana syndrome.
Ratcliffe also hopes to increase coordination with the CIA and the private sector, potentially through rotations that allow CIA agents to spend time in the private sector or allow private employees to AI and technology companies to join the CIA in mid-career appointments, the source said.
Ratcliffe’s hearing is expected to have a more political focus than some of Trump’s more controversial nominees such as Pete Hegseth, chosen to lead the Defense Department. Hegseth faced senators on the Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, where he was questioned about his allegations of alcohol use, sexual assault and reports of financial mismanagement.
Trump’s pick to oversee all intelligence agencies, Tulsi Gabbard, has also been met with skepticism by some in the Senate over her past opposition to US surveillance laws and apparent closeness to American adversaries, in particular a meeting he had with former Syrian dictator Bashar al. Assad He has since returned to oppose a surveillance program known as Section 702.
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Gabbard’s hearing isn’t in the books yet, and neither is Trump’s nominee to head the FBI, Kash Patel.
Trump’s national security nominees are in step on at least one thing: the threat from China and the need to upgrade technologies and defenses to thwart the CCP’s chronic attacks on US infrastructure.
“We have to stop trying to play better and better defense,” Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser, recently told FOX Business. “We have to start attacking.”