John Ratcliffe, the former Director of National Intelligence, has been appointed as the new head of the CIA.

Ratcliffe previously served as a member of the House of Representatives and held the position of Director of National Intelligence during Trump's first presidential term.

During last week's hearings, members of the Senate Intelligence Committee posed numerous questions to Ratcliffe regarding whether he would fire or remove employees based on their political views or opinions about Trump, who has repeatedly criticized the Central Intelligence Agency.

Ratcliffe assured that he would not do so, and the committee supported his nomination with a majority vote of 14 to 3 in a meeting on Monday. This cleared the way for his nomination to be considered by the full Senate.

Ratcliffe served as the Director of National Intelligence—the highest intelligence officer in the country—from May 2020 until Trump left office in January 2021.

During the hearings, Ratcliffe expressed confidence that the U.S. could counter Russia and China, and he promised to investigate whether American diplomats affected by the so-called "Havana Syndrome" were attacked by any foreign adversary. This was reported by Reuters and Voice of America.