Ratcliffe Pledges To Keep Politics Out If Confirmed As Cia Director

John Ratcliffe, President-elect Trump’s pick to lead the CIA, vowed time and again during his confirmation hearing Wednesday to do something that could prove difficult for the next four years: speak truth to power if he becomes head of the agency under President-elect Donald Trump.

Ratcliffe appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee Wednesday to formally kick off his bid to become the next Director of the CIA under Trump, who has long railed against alleged political bias against him from inside the U.S. intelligence community.

While his path to confirmation is expected to be smooth — and could even be finalized as early as next week — the former Texas congressmember fielded an array of questions from Democrats and Republicans about his ability to remain independent of Trump and put aside politics if he becomes the country’s most powerful spy.

“Will you or any of your staff impose a political litmus test for CIA employees?” Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) asked at one point.

“No,” Ratcliffe responded.

Ratcliffe, who served as the director of national intelligence during Trump’s first term, by and large did not face sharp-elbowed or adversarial questions from Senators on the spy panel.

But the queries on his ability to shelter the CIA from partisan politics came from both sides of the aisle. They ranged from Democratic worry that Ratcliffe might tweak career spy officials’ intelligence assessments to appease Trump, to Republican concerns that recent CIA leadership has over-prioritized diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Ratcliffe defended his record across the board.

“I think my record in terms of speaking truth to power and defending the intelligence community and its good work is very clear,” he said in response to questioning from Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate spy panel, who asked whether he would ever force out CIA employees based on their political views.

In one concrete concession to concerns of politicization, Ratcliffe committed to testifying publicly during the committee’s annual global threats hearing. During Trump’s first term, spy leaders’ public testimony had at times contradicted Trump’s statements, angering the president and leading to an effort to move the hearing behind closed doors.

Despite his vows Wednesday, Ratcliffe is a close ally to Trump who has at times alarmed Democrats with his willingness to criticize aspects of the U.S. intelligence community.

A former federal prosecutor, Ratcliffe was one of the most outspoken Congressional critics of Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Trump later tapped him to serve on his impeachment defense team, and as director of national intelligence, he declassified unverified information on the 2016 election over the objection of career intelligence officials.

Asked by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), the chair of the committee, whether he could “set aside his partisan views” if confirmed, Ratcliffe expressed a desire to leave his political past behind.

“Mr. Chairman, while I enjoyed my time in Congress, and I enjoyed more my time as DNI and the opportunity to be apolitical,” he said.

The hearing Wednesday also offered one of the first forums for Ratcliffe to lay out his vision for the CIA.

Ratcliffe said in his opening statement that the agency was “struggling” when it came to the adoption of emerging technologies, and he would work to ensure the U.S. stayed ahead of its adversaries on critical technology issues like AI and quantum computing.

He also said he would focus relentlessly on enhancing the agency’s human spying efforts abroad, and dedicate more time to transnational criminal organizations that are smuggling illegal drugs into the U.S. He also called for the agency to double down in its shadow fight with China.

“The Chinese Communist Party remains committed to dominating the world, economically, militarily and technologically,” he said.

In a sign of Ratcliffe’s easy path out of committee, Cotton said at the end of the hearing that the panel was “moving as soon as possible” on his nomination and a vote could come as early as Monday.

Connor O’Brien contributed to this report.