Trump nominates Ratcliffe to top intelligence post as turnover continues

WASHINGTON — Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats’ announcement that he will leave his job on August 15 represents the end of an era – he’s the last remaining member of President Donald Trump’s original national security team.

Coats’ departure will push the turnover figure in Trump’s A-team to 75 percent, according to Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, who has been tracking Trump turnover for the Brookings Institution. Her numbers include positions vacated because of firings, resignations, forced resignations and promotions to other jobs.

And that statistic may be less dramatic than reality. Tenpas counts each vacated position only once – even if the job has been held by three individuals – as happened with chief of staff, national security adviser and press secretary. The communications director job has been held by five different people.

In fact, some 33 percent of Trump A-team positions have been the subject of “serial turnover” — as they’ve been held by more than two individuals.

The director of national intelligence has to have some experience in the intelligence community and be perceived as nonpartisan, an honest broker who stands behind the intelligence community’s findings, Tenpas offered.

Trump’s choice to fill Coats’ shoes is Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, a third-term member of the House. He’s a former U.S. attorney, federal terrorism prosecutor and the one-time mayor of Heath, Texas. As a member serving on both the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees, Ratcliffe stood out last week when he grilled special counsel Robert Mueller.

On a Fox News program Sunday morning, Ratcliffe asserted that “there were crimes committed during the Obama administration.” Hours later, Trump announced Ratcliffe would be his next intelligence director.

Unenthusiastic responses

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer did not hesitate to attribute Trump’s pick to the GOP congressman’s “blind loyalty” to Trump as evidenced by “his demagogic questioning of former special counsel Robert Mueller” last week.

The intelligence community was largely unenthusiastic.

Ratcliffe “would be the first DNI without significant intelligence or ambassadorial experience,” former CIA Deputy Director John McLaughlin tweeted.

McLaughlin also wrote that Coats fulfilled the main job of intelligence director — “present the collective view of the intelligence community in a fair, objective, and non-partisan way.”

In fact, Coats at times made clear that he disagreed with Trump on Russian interference in the 2016 election — which Trump discounted — and if illegal immigration was a national security threat.

“From Day 1, Trump has made his disdain for the intelligence community clear. Our Director of National Intelligence should be above partisan politics, speak truth to power, and resist Trump’s abuses of authority,” tweeted Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. “John Ratcliffe doesn’t fit that bill.”

Ratcliffe needs to be confirmed by the Senate. Tenpas noted that while Ratcliffe passed federal vetting before he became a U.S. attorney, as Trump transitions from an independent national security veteran to a Republican loyalist, the vetting process will be intense on his past statements and conduct.

McConnell noncommittal

Conservative groups such as the Club for Growth praised Trump’s choice. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Ratcliffe “will be a worthy successor and has my full support. He understands the only way America can be safe is to be strong.”

But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell released a statement that praised Coats’ “deliberate, thoughtful and unbiased approach” without naming Ratcliffe. McConnell added: “The U.S. intelligence community works best when it is led by professionals who protect its work from political or analytical bias and who deliver unvarnished hard truths to political leaders in both the executive and legislative branches. Very often the news these briefings bring is unpleasant, but it is essential that we be confronted with the facts. Dan Coats was such a leader.”

It’s also not clear who will fill Coats’ shoes as the Senate considers Ratcliffe’s confirmation. On Sunday, Trump tweeted out the news of Coats’ departure and the “highly respected” Ratcliffe’s nomination, the president added, “director will be named shortly.”

University of Texas School of Law professor Bobby Chesney opined on the national security blog Lawfare that the law that created the Office of the Director of National Intelligence stipulates that the Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence shall take the helm during a vacancy. That individual is Sue Gordon, a career officer named by Trump in 2017.

The White House press office passed on a chance to explain if Trump plans to name someone other than Gordon as acting director in Coats’ absence.

Contact Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7391. Follow @DebraJSaunders on Twitter.