President Donald Trump has announced his picks for the director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) and the principal deputy director of national intelligence (PDDNI), sending his nominations to the Senate for confirmation.
Aaron Lukas was named as Trump’s PDDNI nominee in a slew of nominations announced by the White House earlier this week. If confirmed, Lukas would be the second-highest-ranking official in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), where Tulsi Gabbard currently serves as the director.
While Gabbard was confirmed to her role with little intelligence experience, Lukas would bring years of national security experience having served as an intelligence aide to then acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grennell during the first Trump administration.
Lukas’s previous experience also includes working as a foreign service officer for over 21 years and holding a short stint from 2020 to 2021 as senior director for Europe and Russia at the White House National Security Council, according to his LinkedIn.
Prior to his work with the foreign service, Lukas worked at the Cato Institute and was the chief speechwriter and strategic adviser chief at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
Trump included George Wesley Street as his nominee for director of NCSC in his list, which would make him responsible for leading counterintelligence efforts against threats from foreign intelligence services, insider threats, and cyber intrusions, if he is confirmed by the Senate.
Details about Street’s background or experience are not immediately clear, and the list of nominations that the White House published only noted that he hails from Virginia.
Street would be the first person confirmed to the role after the previous director Michael Casey resigned in January.
