CIA Director John Ratcliffe detailed how he will restore political neutrality to the intelligence agency, with one focus being fulfilling its role of countering terrorism.
Ratcliffe lamented the “politicization” the CIA has undergone in recent years, pointing to the agency’s initial view of Hunter Biden’s laptop as “Russian disinformation,” which tarnished the agency’s “apolitical” stance. As such, the CIA director said President Donald Trump wants him to return the agency to its roots and get “back to what made the CIA great.”
“The role of the CIA, Lara, is to make sure that we’re confronting and countering terrorists over there before they come over here,” Ratcliffe explained on Fox News’s My View with Lara Trump. “Whether it’s Al Qaeda or ISIS or al Shabaab, every weekend I come in and I brief President Trump on the success that we’ve had on his behalf, and as you know, he has a history of being successful against terrorists, against ISIS, and against terrorist regimes like Iran. And so, again, this is what we need to get back to. And this is the challenge that he wants me to inspire the CIA to do here, and we’re off to a great start.”
Ratcliffe went on to state how the Trump administration’s view on China has changed since Trump’s first presidential term, and suggested the best way to counter China is to “go on offense.” Part of this strategy is releasing videos to Chinese residents and inviting them to contact the agency through the dark web since “they can be great sources of intelligence.”
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In receiving help from Chinese residents, Ratcliffe argued they can provide more information on the People’s Republic of China and its ruling party, the Chinese Communist Partyallowing the agency to pass this information to Trump and his dealings with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The CIA director also provided his ideal future for the agency, which includes putting “more distance” between the United States and its adversaries and having people think the agency does “amazing things” for the country.
