America First Nomination: John Ratcliffe

Biography

John Ratcliffe’s career in public service is routed in his commitment to national security, most recently serving as the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) under President Donald Trump. In that role, Ratcliffe served as the leader of the U.S. intelligence community and principal intelligence advisor to the President from 2020 to 2021. As “America’s Top Spy,” Ratcliffe successfully deployed covert and clandestine intelligence assets to remove numerous designated terrorist leaders from the battlefield, led a shift in the U.S. intelligence community priorities to better position the U.S. for success in the great power competition with China, and designated space as a priority intelligence domain by adding the U.S. Space Force as the 18th member of the Intelligence Community. In recognition of his national security achievements, President Trump awarded Ratcliffe the National Security Medal, the nation’s highest honor for distinguished achievement in the field of intelligence and national security. Prior to his nomination and confirmation as DNI, Ratcliffe served in Congress for over five years as the U.S. Representative for the 4th Congressional District of Texas. As a member of Congress, he was a leading policymaker on national security issues as a member of the House Intelligence and Judiciary Committees and as Cybersecurity Chairman on the Homeland Security Committee. The son of two schoolteachers and the youngest of six, John was born in Illinois but “got to Texas as fast as I could.” He and his family reside in Heath, Texas.

 America First Credentials 

Supports 

Transparency

Publicly released information to dispel the mistruths about foreign interference being responsible for the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.

Declassified material sought by Senator Grassley about calls made by the retired Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, before he became Mr. Trump’s first national security adviser.

Hailed by President Trump as a “warrior for Truth and Honesty with the American Public,” citing his work to root out “abuse of Civil liberties at the FISA Court.”

Supported efforts to streamline the intelligence community and has credited President Trump with improving efficiency.

Support for Israel

Supported Israel by arguing that the Biden Administration’s threats to withhold weapons shipments to Israel in response to military actions in Gaza has put the key U.S. ally at risk.

Supported moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem as a strong show of support for Israel

Supported the Abraham Accords between Israel and the UAE saying, “The Middle East is changing for the better before our eyes— and this historic breakthrough is a major step towards peace.”

Improving Cyber Security

Improved Cyber Security by leading in Congress. In 2016, President Barack Obama signed Ratcliffe's H.R. 5877 "United States-Israel Advanced Research Partnership Act of 2016" into public law. The bill amended the Homeland Security Act of 2002 and the United States-Israel Strategic Partnership Act of 2014 to allow the Department of Homeland Security, in coordination with the Department of State, to enter cooperative programs with Israel to enhance capabilities in cybersecurity.

Worked in Congress to pass H.R. 1616 "Strengthening State and Local Cyber Crime Fighting Act of 2017" into public law. In 2017, President Trump signed this into law and the Bill authorized a National Computer Forensics Institute within the U.S. Secret Service.

Securing the Homeland

Bolstered immigration security protocols by banning entry from certain failed states that were known to have the presence of hostile foreign actors within their borders

Opposes 

Chinese Influence

Spoke out against China as the top threat to U.S. interests and to the rest of the free world. “Beijing intends to dominate the U.S. and the rest of the planet economically, militarily and technologically,” Ratcliffe wrote in a December 2020 op-ed in The Wall Street Journal. “Many of China’s major public initiatives and prominent companies offer only a layer of camouflage to the activities of the Chinese Communist Party.”

Increased the intelligence budget as it related to China by 20 percent. “When people ask me why I did that,” he explained in an interview, “I say, ‘Because no one would let me increase it by 40%.’”

Net Neutrality

Signed a letter from Congress, along with 106 other members of Congress, to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, supporting Pai's plan to repeal net neutrality.

Lawfare

Criticized the criminal prosecutions against Donald Trump, calling Alvin Bragg’s indictment, a “travesty of justice and political persecution.”

America First Achievements  

John Ratcliffe has significant achievements in security and intelligence including: 

Role in National Security

Ratcliffe was a key official in the Trump administration, serving as the Director of National Intelligence. In this role, he contributed to critical defense and intelligence operations and played a prominent part in shaping U.S. national security policy. Should he be confirmed, he will become the first person to hold the highest positions in U.S. National Security.

Legal and Policy Background

Prior to joining Congress, Ratcliffe was appointed to be the chief of anti-terrorism and national security for the Eastern District of Texas, within the U.S. Department of Justice, by President George W. Bush. He later served as interim U.S. Attorney for the District. As a federal prosecutor Ratcliffe personally managed dozens of international and domestic terrorism investigations involving some of the nation’s most sensitive security matters.