John Ratcliffe

John Lee Ratcliffe (born October 20, 1965) is an American politician and attorney who has served as the director of the Central Intelligence Agency since 2025. Ratcliffe served as the director of national intelligence from 2020 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the U . representative for Texas's fourth congressional district from 2015 to 2020, as the mayor of Heath, Texas, from 2004 to 2012, and as the U . attorney for the Eastern District of Texas from 2007 to 2008. Ratcliffe graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a bachelor's degree in 1986 and from Southern Methodist University's School of Law with a Juris Doctor in 1989. Ratcliffe worked as a lawyer in private practice for fifteen years. In 2004, he was elected to serve as the mayor of Heath, Texas, a position he served in for eight years. That year, he joined the U . Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Texas as the director of anti-terrorism and national security. Ratcliffe worked as an assistant U . attorney in the Eastern District. He briefly served as its acting U . attorney after Matthew D. Orwig resigned in 2007. In 2009, he established the Ashcroft Law Firm alongside former attorney general John Ashcroft and former U . attorney for the Western District of Texas Johnny Sutton. In 2013, Ratcliffe announced his candidacy in the 2014 United States House of Representatives election for Texas's fourth congressional district. He defeated Ralph Hall, who had served as the district's representative for nearly thirty years, in a runoff election. Ratcliffe was elected without opposition in 2014; he was reelected in 2016 and 2018. Ratcliffe's performance in challenging legal opponents of president Donald Trump, including the special counsel Robert Mueller, led to Trump nominating Ratcliffe as his director of national intelligence in July 2019. Ratcliffe withdrew his nomination the next month, believing his confirmation to be in question. In February 2020, Trump nominated Ratcliffe for a second time as the director of national intelligence. His nomination received less criticism amid questions into the origin of SARS-CoV-2 and the recent temporary appointment of Richard Grenell. Ratcliffe was confirmed by the Senate in May. As the director of national intelligence, Ratcliffe selectively declassified intelligence that favored Trump, halted election briefings for Congress, and contradicted public assessments. He released unverified intelligence that suggested Hillary Clinton had devised a scheme to accuse the Russian government of interfering in the 2016 presidential election without basis. In November 2024, Trump named Ratcliffe as his nominee for director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Ratcliffe appeared before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence prior to Trump's second inauguration and was confirmed by the Senate that month. As the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Ratcliffe pursued mass firings at the agency and engaged in foreign interventions, including expanding the agency's drone incursions into Mexico; providing tactical information that preceded U . strikes on Iranian nuclear sites; initiating covert operations in Venezuela; and preparing for U . strikes that began the Iran war.