Just after President Donald Trump forced the retirement of Sue Gordan, a three-decade career official whom he deemed too close to former DNI Dan Coats, the President announced Thursday his pending nomination of retired Navy Admiral Joseph Maguire as the new DNI.
….career in the military, retiring from the U.S. Navy in 2010. He commanded at every level, including the Naval Special Warfare Command. He has also served as a National Security Fellow at Harvard University. I have no doubt he will do a great job!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 8, 2019
Though Maguire has not come up in the intelligence community, per the Washington Post, he is seen as at least a more reasonable choice that Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX), a rabid Trump partisan whose nomination collapsed last week.
However, there was reportedly a bipartisan groundswell of support for Gordon, Coats’ deputy, who is extremely experienced and well-respected. She said that she was “heartbroken” to step down.
Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee Richard Burr (R-NC) called her retirement a “significant loss.”
