John Ratcliffe, President Donald Trump’s pick to head the CIA, took advantage of Washington’s revolving door to make a fortune after the first Trump administration, according to Senate disclosures.
In recent years, Mr. Ratcliffe has worked as a consultant and advisor to several defense contractors. Two of the companies make autonomous aircraft technology that the CIA has long used in covert programs for targeted killings. He also consults for private equity and venture capital firms. Ratcliffe wrote in a Senate inquiry that his work and business relationships would not pose a conflict of interest if he were confirmed as CIA director.
At his Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday, Ratcliffe said the top spy agency would take a more aggressive approach. He said the CIA would be apolitical and focused on China, which could interest hawkish Democrats.
Trump has attacked intelligence agencies and the “deep state” in the past. Ratcliffe, who served as President Trump’s director of national intelligence from 2020 to 2021, is highly likely to be confirmed.
Mr. Ratcliffe’s work with artificial intelligence companies is consistent with Mr. Trump’s support from Silicon Valley defense contractors. Palmer Lackey, who founded the defense contractor Anduril Industries, and Peter Thiel, who founded Palantir, which works with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to mine data to help apprehend immigrants, both worked with Trump. Be a supporter. Elon Musk, who was nominated by President Trump to the Department of Government Efficiency, will lead SpaceX, which works with U.S. intelligence agencies on surveillance satellites. President Trump’s support in this area signals a shift to newer defense technologies rather than more established contractors.
From 2023 to the present, Ratcliffe has served on the advisory board of Arctop, which claims to be using AI for very futuristic purposes. “We interpret brain signals to seamlessly translate thoughts into speech and digital actions,” the company says on its website. The company recently signed a contract to work with the Air Force to monitor cadets’ brain activity during training.
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Latent AI, of which Ratcliffe is also on the advisory board, has been working with the Army and Navy leveraging its AI technology. The defense contractor also provides “intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance” for drones and aircraft. The company’s technology enables faster decision-making. Ratcliffe has been working with them since 2022.
Another AI company Ratcliffe has worked with is Shield AI. The company received a $950 million contract from the Air Force in 2022 to use artificial intelligence to pilot autonomous aircraft (drones). The company’s Hivemind software flies the aircraft independently, “just like a human pilot,” as Shield AI claims. He served as a consultant for the company from 2021 to 2022.
Mr. Ratcliffe is a consultant for investment firm Perot Jain, whose portfolio includes defense companies that contract with the government. Ratcliffe wrote that he has been consulting for them since 2022. Mr. Ratcliffe also consults for private equity giant Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative investment firm.
He is also a member of the advisory board of Coherent Logix, which is affiliated with the Defense Innovation Unit, part of the Department of Defense focused on emerging commercial technologies. Coherent Logix makes processors for computer systems that include work in outer space.
Finally, Mr. Ratcliffe is a senior advisor at American Global Strategies, LLC, an advisory firm that works with clients in the defense industry. The company was founded by Robert C. O’Brien, who served as National Security Advisor in the Trump administration, and Alex Gray, who served as chief of staff on the National Security Council in the Trump administration. He has been in this position since 2022.
