US Congress(WASHINGTON) — President-elect Donald Trump is expected to name former Sen. Dan Coats of Indiana to head the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, three senior Trump transition officials tell ABC News.
Coats, 73, made a visit to Trump Tower late last year and said at the time that he was not seeking a position in the Trump administration. He was a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee during his term, which ended this year after he decided not to seek re-election. The Republican is also a former U.S. ambassador to Germany under President George W. Bush.
The consideration of Coats comes as a senior Trump transition official told ABC News that Trump and his team are mulling an overhaul of the DNI, which Trump spokesman Sean Spicer denied Thursday.
The DNI was created after 9/11 to coordinate the nation’s intelligence gathering and analysis groups.
Trump has clashed with intelligence communities over the last several weeks and said Wednesday that he agrees with Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, that Russia was not behind the cyberattacks on top Democrats.
“Julian Assange said ‘a 14 year old could have hacked Podesta’ – why was DNC so careless? Also said Russians did not give him the info!” Trump tweeted.
James Clapper, the outgoing director of National Intelligence, was on Capitol Hill to testify about Russia’s alleged hacking during the 2016 presidential election. He told lawmakers his confidence was “very high” that the Russian government was responsible for the cyberattacks.
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