Trump quietly working to replace director of national intelligence
By Bill Gertz -
Wednesday, July 17, 2019
President Trump is continuing to plan to replace his senior intelligence adviser, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, and has considered at least one candidate, according to people close to the White House.
Fred Fleitz, an intelligence veteran who until recently was chief of staff to National Security Adviser John R. Bolton, is being considered for the DNI post by Mr. Trump.
Mr. Fleitz is a no-nonsense advocate of intelligence reform with a wealth of experience, having worked as an analyst for the CIA, professional staff member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and as a senior State Department nonproliferation specialist during the George W. Bush administration.
Recent reports that Mr. Fleitz, a conservative advocate of U.S. intelligence reform, is in the running for DNI sent shock waves through the intelligence bureaucracy.
As outlined in a recent journal essay by former CIA officer John Gentry, U.S. intelligence agencies have been politicized to the liberal left in recent years, especially during the Obama administration. Under President Obama, a group of liberal intelligence leaders left their mark on the agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence community, including outspoken anti-Trump partisans such as former DNI James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan (who admitted he once voted for the pro-Moscow Communist Party USA presidential candidate), and FBI Director James B. Comey, who was fired by Mr. Trump for mishandling bureau investigations.
Mr. Trump is still upset with Mr. Coats over his Senate testimony in February when, under questioning from Democrats on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, he appeared to undercut sensitive negotiations with North Korea on its nuclear program at the time.
Mr. Coats testified that U.S. intelligence agencies assessed North Korea will not give up its nuclear weapons through talks with the United States.
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