Latest in Dan Coats
The nomination-by-tweet of Republican Rep. John Ratcliffe of Texas as director of national intelligence (DNI) to replace outgoing DNI Dan Coats has drawn rapid and harsh condemnation from many political observers and even former intelligence officers for his apparent partisanship and lack of experience.
Can the president appoint whomever he wishes to serve as acting director of national intelligence (DNI) during the period between the resignation of Dan Coats (effective Aug. 15) and Senate confirmation of a successor? The president seems to think so, indicating in a tweet yesterday that “the Acting Director will be named shortly.”
....be leaving office on August 15th. I would like to thank Dan for his great service to our Country. The Acting Director will be named shortly.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats sent a letter to the congressional leadership on Monday calling for a reauthorization of FISA Title VII, including Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act. Among their comments, they request reauthorization "without amendment beyond removing the sunset provision, to avoid any interruption in our use of these authorities to protect the American people." The full letter is included below.
We made a little video.
No commentary. No opinions. No nothing—except recent senior intelligence and administration officials answering questions about what they believe about the Russian election interference.
The senior intelligence all spoke at last week's Aspen Security Forum. The full videos of their remarks are available here. The other snippets are taken from, well, elsewhere.
As the Romans might say, res ipsa loquitur.
Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats testified last week that he would be unable to provide an estimate of the number of U.S. persons whose information has been incidentally collected under Section 702, despite promising during his confirmation hearing to make every effort to obtain this information.
Over the past two weeks, the nation has been absorbed by congressional testimony that has brought the issue of executive privilege into the spotlight. Former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, James Comey, answered questions regarding his private conversations with President Donald Trump, while Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, and Admiral Michael Rogers each have declined to do so.