John Lee Ratcliffe (born October 20, 1965) is an American politician and attorney who has served as the director of the Central Intelligence Agency since 2025. Ratcliffe served as the director of national intelligence from 2020 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the U.S. representative for Texas's fourth congressional district from 2015 to 2020, as the mayor of Heath, Texas, from 2004 to 2012, and as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Texas from 2007 to 2008.
Ratcliffe graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a bachelor's degree in 1986 and from Southern Methodist University's School of Law with a Juris Doctor in 1989. Ratcliffe worked as a lawyer in private practice for fifteen years. In 2004, he was elected to serve as the mayor of Heath, Texas, a position he served in for eight years. That year, he joined the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Texas as the director of anti-terrorism and national security. Ratcliffe worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District. He briefly served as its acting U.S. attorney after Matthew D. Orwig resigned in 2007. In 2009, he established the Ashcroft Law Firm alongside former attorney general John Ashcroft and former U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas Johnny Sutton.
In 2013, Ratcliffe announced his candidacy in the 2014 United States House of Representatives election for Texas's fourth congressional district. He defeated Ralph Hall, who had served as the district's representative for nearly thirty years, in a runoff election. Ratcliffe was elected without opposition in 2014; he was reelected in 2016 and 2018. Ratcliffe's performance in challenging legal opponents of President Donald Trump, including the special counsel Robert Mueller, led to Trump nominating Ratcliffe as his director of national intelligence in July 2019. Ratcliffe withdrew his nomination the next month, believing his confirmation to be in question.
In February 2020, Trump nominated Ratcliffe for a second time as the director of national intelligence. His nomination received less criticism amid questions into the origin of SARS-CoV-2 and the recent temporary appointment of Richard Grenell. Ratcliffe was confirmed by the Senate in May. As the director of national intelligence, Ratcliffe halted election briefings for Congress and contradicted public assessments on foreign interference in the 2020 presidential election. He released unverified intelligence that suggested Hillary Clinton had devised a scheme to accuse the Russian government of interfering in the 2016 presidential election.
In November 2024, Trump named Ratcliffe as his nominee for director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Ratcliffe appeared before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence prior to Trump's second inauguration and was confirmed by the Senate that month. As the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Ratcliffe pursued mass firings at the agency and engaged in foreign interventions, including expanding the agency's drone incursions into Mexico, providing tactical information that preceded U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, initiating covert operations in Venezuela, and preparing for U.S. strikes that began the Iran war.
Early life and education (1965–1989) John Lee Ratcliffe was born in Mount Prospect, Illinois, on October 20, 1965. Ratcliffe had five older siblings. Ratcliffe's parents were school teachers. His father sold cars and educational books to supplement his income. Ratcliffe was raised in Palatine. The Ratcliffes moved to Carbondale after Ratcliffe's father was named the dean of continuing education at Southern Illinois University in 1977. Ratcliffe graduated from Carbondale Community High School in 1983. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a bachelor's degree in 1986 and from Southern Methodist University's School of Law with a Juris Doctor in 1989. He met his wife, Michele, at Southern Methodist University; they have two children. Ratcliffe is Catholic.
Career Early work and mayor of Heath (1989–2012) After graduating from Southern Methodist University, Ratcliffe worked as a lawyer, a mediator, and a law professor. In May 2004, Ratcliffe was elected to serve as the mayor of Heath, Texas, winning seventy percent of the vote in a three-way race. He was sworn in the following month. Ratcliffe was re-elected in May 2006 without opposition, as well as in 2008 and 2010. According to the Rockwall County Herald-Banner, Ratcliffe ensured that Heath's tax rate remained constant, and its financial ratings improved. In February 2012, he announced that he would not run for re-election, citing his legal and political engagements. Ratcliffe swore in his successor on May 14.
Bush administration positions (2004–2008) In December 2004, Ratcliffe joined the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Texas as the director of anti-terrorism and national security in the Bush administration. He additionally served on the Advisory Subcommittee on National Security within the United States Department of Justice. In January 2005, Ratcliffe was appointed as an assistant U.S. attorney for anti-terrorism. According to The New York Times, Ratcliffe embellished his role in prosecuting terrorism cases. In one case, he claimed that he had tried suspects who allegedly funneled money to Hamas; Ratcliffe had only investigated aspects of the case after a mistrial and did not prosecute either the first or second trials.
In April 2007, Matthew D. Orwig, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, announced that he would leave his position for private practice. The following month, Ratcliffe was sworn in as his acting successor as Orwig's first assistant. He was additionally a candidate to be nominated for the position. Ratcliffe led the prosecution of hundreds of Pilgrim's Pride workers suspected of being illegal immigrants who were arrested in April 2008. He presided over the prosecution of the personal trainer David Jacobs. Ratcliffe resigned the following month after Rebecca Gregory was confirmed to the position. By October 2008, he had become a consultant to the United States government on counterterrorism.
Legal and political activities (2009–2014) In April 2009, Ratcliffe established a law firm alongside former attorney general John Ashcroft and former U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas Johnny Sutton. The firm, operating as the Ashcroft Law Firm in Washington and Ashcroft Sutton and Ratcliffe in Texas, was affiliated with The Ashcroft Group. Prior to the 2012 presidential election, Ratcliffe advised former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney's transition team on government nominees and appointees.
U.S. House of Representatives (2015–2020) Initial campaign
On December 9, 2013, hours before the deadline, Ratcliffe filed as a candidate in the United States House of Representatives election for Texas's fourth congressional district. The Dallas Morning News described Ratcliffe's unexpected candidacy as the "most serious political challenge" to the district's officeholder, Ralph Hall, the oldest person to have ever served in the House of Representatives; according to The Atlantic, John Ashcroft encouraged Ratcliffe to run. Ratcliffe told the News that he would not seek to make Hall's age a significant issue in his campaign, a strategy The New York Times attributed to appealing to older voters. He additionally described himself as Hall's successor to the News. Within a week of declaring his candidacy, Ratcliffe garnered in individual donations.
By January 2014, he had become the most prominent opponent to Hall. That month, Ratcliffe committed over of his personal funds into his campaign. His donor network included former U.S. attorneys for president George W. Bush, and his campaign strategy focused on online marketing and analytics. In the primary election on March 4, Hall and Ratcliffe were forced into a runoff election after neither candidate garnered an outright majority of the vote. Ratcliffe defeated Hall in the runoff election on May 27. In his victory speech, Ratcliffe stated that he would leave office after eight years. He ran unopposed in the general election on November 4.
Tenure
Ratcliffe was sworn in on January 3, 2015. In his tenure, Ratcliffe was involved in various congressional hearings into individuals who conflicted with Trump. He questioned the integrity of Peter Strzok, who led the Federal Bureau of Investigation's counterintelligence investigation into links between associates of president Donald Trump and Russian officials, before the bureau's director, Christopher A. Wray. Ratcliffe later alleged that Strzok and Lisa Page, a bureau official with whom he had an extramarrital affair, had a "manifest bias" against Trump. He offered concerns about Strzok and the special counsel Robert Mueller's response to his apparent impropriety before deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein.
In the impeachment inquiry into Trump, Ratcliffe emerged as a defender of Trump. As the impeachment trial neared in January 2020, advisors to Trump considered appointing Ratcliffe to formally defend Trump. Ratcliffe had been expected to join Trump's defense team alongside Ohio representative Jim Jordan and Georgia representative Doug Collins until Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell intervened.
Committee assignments Ratcliffe was assigned to the House Committees on the Judiciary and on Homeland Security in January 2015. In the latter, he chaired the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection. Ratcliffe served on the Task Force on Combating Terrorist and Foreign Fighter Travel, a consortium assembled to discuss Americans leaving the United States to fight in the Iraqi and Syrian civil wars. Ratcliffe was named to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in January 2019.
Director of National Intelligence (2020–2021) First nomination In December 2018, The Washington Post reported that Ratcliffe was among several candidates being considered to succeed Jeff Sessions as attorney general, an indication that he had been supported by allies of president Donald Trump. In July 2019, tensions between Trump and director of national intelligence Dan Coats—who frequently contradicted him on matters of foreign adversaries—mounted after Coats criticized Trump's relationship with Russian president Vladimir Putin. In July 2019, Axios reported that Trump had been "eager" to remove Coats. That month, Trump met with Ratcliffe about succeeding Coats. According to The New York Times, Trump was later impressed by Ratcliffe's performance in the special counsel Robert Mueller's testimony to Congress, in which Ratcliffe chastised Mueller over the Mueller report—including allegations that the report had been written by allies of Hillary Clinton—and defended Trump. On July 28, Trump publicly named Ratcliffe as his nominee for director of national intelligence. Trump later stated that the intelligence community had "run amok" and that Ratcliffe would "rein it in".