John Ratcliffe

John Lee Ratcliffe is an American politician and lawyer and former Director of National Intelligence (from 2020 to 2021). Future director of the CIA (from 2025).

John Ratcliffe was born on October 20, 1965.

He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1987 with a Bachelor of Arts in Public Administration and International Relations, and from Southern Methodist University School of Law (now Dedman School of Law) with a Juris Doctor in 1989.

After law school, Ratcliffe was an attorney in private practice.

Ratcliffe was elected to four consecutive two-year terms as mayor of Heath, Texas, a city of approximately 7,000 people. He held the office from June 2004 through May 2012.

Ratcliffe was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 2015-2020. During his time in Congress, Ratcliffe was considered one of its most conservative members.

In 2019, he was nominated by President Trump to be Director of National Intelligence, but Ratcliffe withdrew his nomination after Republican senators expressed concerns about him and former intelligence officials said he could politicize intelligence. The media also reported that Ratcliffe lied about his prosecutorial experience in terrorism and immigration cases.

In February 2020, Trump announced that he would again nominate Ratcliffe to be Director of National Intelligence, and after Senate approval, he resigned from the House of Representatives and was sworn in in May. At his confirmation hearing, Ratcliffe pledged to be apolitical. However, during his tenure as intelligence director, Ratcliffe used the position to score political points for Trump.

Specifically, he made public statements that contradicted the intelligence community's assessments and sidelined career officials in the intelligence community.

On November 12, 2024, President-elect Trump announced that he would nominate Ratcliffe for the position of Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.