CIA is not what it should be, says Trump's nominee for director

Ratcliffe told senators that, if confirmed, he would push for the use of artificial intelligence and new chips, as well as increase the number of personnel working on intelligence gathering.

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Photo: Reuters
Photo: Reuters
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

John Ratcliffe, the nominee for director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), said at his Senate confirmation hearing that the CIA should do better and stay ahead of global threats from Russia, China and other US enemies.

Ratcliffe, who was the director of national intelligence agencies during Donald Trump's first presidential term, told senators that, if his candidacy is confirmed, he will push for the use of artificial intelligence and new chips, but also strengthen the personnel working on intelligence collection.

"We're not where we need to be," Ratcliffe said at a hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

He said he sees China as America's biggest foreign policy rival, and that he sees Russia, Iran, North Korea, and drug cartels, hacking gangs, and terrorist organizations as the biggest threats to national security.

Republicans have praised Ratcliffe's experience, but Democrats and independent senators on the committee are skeptical, asking whether Ratcliffe's loyalty to Trump will compromise his job. Ratcliffe has said he will put the CIA's mission first.

He added that he supports the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a program that allows authorities to collect, without a warrant, communications data from non-US citizens who communicate with Americans - whose conversation data can also be used.

"Is the program perfect? ​​No. But it is essential and it is irreplaceable," said the candidate for CIA director.

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photo: Reuters

Ratcliffe is a former federal prosecutor who served in Congress representing a district in Texas. He fiercely defended Trump during the first impeachment trial in the House of Representatives.

Ratcliffe's nomination is expected to be confirmed by the Senate no later than inauguration day, January 20. He will replace current director William Burns.

Trump and other Republicans have criticized the CIA and other intelligence agencies for focusing too much on climate change issues or diversity in hiring. The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Republican Tom Cotton, cited the New Orleans attack as an example of an incident that occurred without any warning from intelligence agencies.

As director of national intelligence, Ratcliffe oversaw the work of more than a dozen intelligence agencies. Among other things, he is responsible for detecting foreign influence in American elections.

Ratcliffe is a Trump loyalist. While serving as director of national intelligence, he was the target of accusations that he intentionally declassified Russian intelligence on Democrats during the 2016 campaign - although he later admitted that he knew the information might not be accurate.

Pam Bondi: There will be no enemy lists

Trump's nominee for Attorney General, Pam Bondi, said at the Senate confirmation hearing on her nomination that the office will not target people based on their politics, nor will the president-elect target his opponents in this way.

"There will be no enemies list in the Justice Department. I will not politicize the office. I will not target people just because of their political affiliation," Bondi told the Judiciary Committee.

Bondi was Florida's attorney general from 2011 to 2019 and helped defend Trump during the 2019 impeachment.

Bondi criticized the Justice Department's previous investigations and prosecution of Trump and suggested that it demonstrated the use of the department as a "weapon" for political persecution.

The Biden administration has filed two federal lawsuits against Trump for attempting to overturn the 2020 election and for improperly withholding classified documents. Both cases were dismissed.

Trump has threatened to use the American justice system to take revenge on his political enemies once he returns to power.

"The concern is that this could happen within your term," Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse told candidate Pam Bondi. "We want to make sure that's not the case, that you remain independent."

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photo: Reuters

When asked by Democrats, Bondi declined to say directly how she would react if the White House tried to influence criminal investigations.

"If I had thought that would happen, I wouldn't be sitting here today," she said.

Bondi said she accepted Biden's victory in the 2020 election, but suggested she had seen evidence of irregularities. After Trump's defeat in the 2020 election, she appeared at conferences and on television shows where she repeated some of Trump's false claims about election fraud.

Bondi said she would consider potential pardons for those accused of participating in the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack on a case-by-case basis, if requested.

Trump has promised to pardon at least some of the roughly 1.600 people charged with participating in the riots, but has suggested that those who were violent may not receive pardons.

Bondi has won praise from Republicans for promising to prioritize prosecuting violent crimes, gangs, child sex abusers and drug traffickers, protecting the country from "terrorists and other foreign threats" and addressing the "tremendous crisis at the border."

She added that she would also focus on protecting free speech, religious freedom and the "right to bear arms" and work to fix the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which she said suffers from "years of mismanagement, lack of funding and low morale."

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