WASHINGTON (WHTC-AM/FM/Reuters) – As President Trump tabbed a temporary successor to Dan Coats, the name of the one-time House Intelligence Committee Chair from Holland has surfaced as a possible full-time replacement.
Pete Hoekstra has been a US Ambassador to the Netherlands since late in 2017, but Reuters reported on Thursday that the nine-term Representative from the Tulip City, along with current Republican Congressmen Mike McCaul and Devin Nunes, are among the potential candidates for permanent director, according to administration officials and media reports. McCaul is a former chairman of the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, and Nunes was the House Intelligence Committee chairman before the GOP lost control of the Lower Chamber in 2016.
Hoekstra, a one-time Herman Miller executive who stunned long-time incumbent Guy Vander Jagt in the 1992 Republican primary to win his House seat, spent six years as the Intelligence Committee chairman in the aftermath of the 9-11 tragedy, and was a consultant on foreign affairs for two private concerns after leaving Washington. His name has come up in the past for possible Cabinet positions when the Trump Administration took control of the White House in 2017.
Mr. Trump said in a tweet on Thursday that Joseph Maguire, the current chief of the National Counterterrorism Center, will become the acting director of national intelligence on Aug. 15, when Dan Coats, the current director of the agency overseeing civilian and military intelligence, steps down. Last week, the President dropped his first choice to replace Coats, US Representative John Ratcliffe, after questions arose about the Republican congressman’s lack of experience and possible exaggerations in his resume.
Mr. Trump’s choice for the permanent job must be confirmed by the Senate. Some reports say that Hoekstra’s name surfaced in part because the Senate had to confirm him for his current ambassadoral position to his native Netherlands late last year, and that could be a factor in the White House’s decision on nominating a permanent director of national intelligence.
(Local reporting by Gary Stevens, WHTC-AM/FM; additional national REUTERS reporting by Eric Beech & editing by Sandra Maler)
