John Ratcliffe, President Donald Trump’s choice to head the CIA, became the second cabinet pick to survive a Senate confirmation battle on Jan. 23, winning a decisive 74-25 vote.
In a rare moment of bipartisanship, 21 Democratic senators joined their Republican colleagues to approve his nomination.
Now confirmed, Ratcliffe faces a full agenda, with key priorities outlined in last week’s hearing, including strengthening the CIA’s intelligence capabilities and winning the tech race against China.
Ratcliffe, during his nomination hearing last week, pledged to lawmakers to keep the United States – and the intelligence agency – ahead of foreign adversaries on key emerging technology issues if the Senate confirms his nomination.
“Technology is more important than ever, whether it’s understanding our adversaries’ capabilities in AI and quantum computing, or their developments in hypersonics and emerging space technologies, or their innovations in counterintelligence and surveillance,” he said, adding that adversarial nations, particularly China, “understand that the nation who wins the race in the emerging technologies of today will dominate the world of tomorrow.”
The CIA, he testified, has struggled to keep pace with private sector innovation and emphasized the need for greater collaboration with tech industries.
Ratcliffe also plans to prioritize cybersecurity, calling it a critical issue for national defense, and supports developing a cyber deterrent strategy.
He intends to “work on the development of those types of tools that will be effective in allowing us to … deploy those capabilities … I would like to make sure that we have all of the tools necessary to go on offense against our adversaries,” he said.
Ratcliffe’s confirmation makes him the second member of Trump’s national security team approved by the Senate, following Marco Rubio’s unanimous confirmation as secretary of state.
Republicans plan to tackle the remaining appointments in the coming days.
