Joseph Maguire’s selection comes after several months of instability in several key national security posts.
For a brief period this week, the U.S. intelligence apparatus was just days away from losing decades of experience at the top, with nobody in the wings poised to take over.
Now intelligence veterans are expressing relief at President Donald Trump’s decision to tap former Navy Vice Adm. Joseph Maguire as the nation’s interim spy chief — calling Maguire a steadying hand for an administration that has frequently left its national security leadership in flux.
“Joe is the best choice for an insider right now to bring some stability,” Michael Leiter, Maguire’s former boss at the National Counterterrorism Center, told POLITICO. ”Everyone should feel reassured that one thing Joe is not is a political hack.”
Trump announced Thursday that Maguire will become acting director of national intelligence starting Aug. 15, when current Director Dan Coats and his deputy, Sue Gordon, are both set to depart. Trump turned to Maguire after the failure of his initial plan to nominate Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) as Coats’ replacement, which had fueled concerns that the president was seeking to install a partisan loyalist in a job created to address the intelligence failures exposed by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Maguire, 67, is the current leader of the terrorism intelligence center, which falls under the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. His selection comes after several months of instability in several key national security posts, including more than half a year without a confirmed Defense secretary and the continued presence of an acting secretary at the Department of Homeland Security.
“Admiral Maguire has a long and distinguished career in the military, retiring from the U.S. Navy in 2010,” Trump tweeted when announcing his appointment Thursday night. “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!”
Trump made the move just hours after announcing that Gordon, an intelligence veteran with bipartisan support on Capitol Hill, would follow Coats, her boss of the last two years, out the door. He has not said how long he expects Maguire to remain at ODNI or whether Maguire is in the running to fill the job permanently.
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Intelligence veterans are expressing relief at Trump’s decision to tap former Navy Vice Adm. Joseph Maguire as the nation's interim spy chiefhttps://t.co/u6OY2nEKN0
— POLITICO (@politico) August 10, 2019
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