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The CIA has tapped a veteran clandestine case officer who currently serves as a station chief in the Middle East to run its covert operations around the world after the previous nominee was withdrawn.
CIA director John Ratcliffe has chosen an intelligence operative who heads a critical station in a Middle East country to be deputy director for operations, according to several people familiar with the decision.
The Financial Times is withholding certain details about the nominee because he is undercover. The people familiar with the choice said the nominee was extremely popular with rank-and-file case officers.
The deputy director of operations (DDO) is one of the most important positions at the CIA because the person runs the agency’s covert programmes around the world and oversees the recruitment of spies in China, Russia and beyond. The position is expected to become even more powerful as Ratcliffe intensifies the agency’s focus on espionage.
In his Senate confirmation hearing, Ratcliffe said the CIA would “collect intelligence, especially human intelligence in every corner of the globe, no matter how dark or difficult”.
In one example, the CIA recently released Chinese-language videos as part of an unprecedented online effort to recruit spies in China.
“Ratcliffe is laser focused on the foreign intelligence collection mission,” said one person familiar with his views.
The choice of a new DDO comes after Ratcliffe asked Ralph Goff, a veteran case officer, to come out of retirement to take the role. But his name was later withdrawn from contention. Some people said he was withdrawn because the White House objected to his pro-Ukraine activities in retirement, but one person stressed that it was unrelated to Ukraine.
The appointment of a new DDO is just one of many changes at the top of the US intelligence community under President Donald Trump. Earlier this year, Trump fired General Timothy Haugh who was head of the National Security Agency — which is responsible for electronic surveillance — and also ran the US military’s Cyber Command.
Tulsi Gabbard, director for national intelligence, recently removed Michael Collins as head of the National Intelligence Council, which produces intelligence assessments on critical issues based on information from across the American intelligence community.
Critics of the removal said Collins, and his deputy, were removed because of their role in producing a report that undermined claims the White House used to justify sending alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador. Gabbard’s office rejected that suggestion, saying that the two officials were removed for politicising intelligence.
People familiar with the situation said the appointment of the new DDO was unrelated to the recent controversial changes inside the intelligence community. They said new CIA directors often chose a new head of operations to make sure it was someone they could trust given the sensitive nature of the job.
Some people had speculated that Ratcliffe would also replace the current deputy director of analysis. But one person familiar with the situation said he intended to keep that person, who is undercover, in the role. The person said one reason to keep the current head of analysis was that he had a “great relationship” with the incoming DDO.
The CIA declined to comment.
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