WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, issued the following statement after President Trump announced that Richard Grenell, the current U.S. Ambassador to Germany, will serve as the Acting Director of National Intelligence:

“The President has selected an individual without any intelligence experience to serve as the leader of the nation’s intelligence community in an acting capacity. This is the second acting director the President has named to the role since the resignation of Dan Coats, apparently in an effort to sidestep the Senate’s constitutional authority to advise and consent on such critical national security positions, and flouting the clear intent of Congress when it established the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in 2004. 

“The intelligence community deserves stability and an experienced individual to lead them in a time of massive national and global security challenges. And at a time when the integrity and independence of the Department of Justice has been called into grave question, now more than ever our country needs a Senate-confirmed intelligence director who will provide the best intelligence and analysis, regardless of whether or not it’s expedient for the President who has appointed him. 

“As Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I remain committed to robust, bipartisan oversight of the nation’s intelligence community, up to and including the DNI, and ensuring that the work of our intelligence professionals is never interfered with or manipulated for political ends.”

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