Role of the Director
The role of the Director of the CIA (D/CIA) is to manage the Agency’s intelligence collection, analysis, covert action, counterintelligence, and liaison relationships with foreign services. The D/CIA also oversees the management of foreign intelligence acquired by human sources, what we call HUMINT.
The CIA Director is nominated by the President with the advice, consent, and confirmation of the Senate. The D/CIA reports to the Director of National Intelligence.
CIA Director John L. Ratcliffe
John Ratcliffe was officially sworn in as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency on January 23, 2025. Director Ratcliffe came to the Agency having served previously in the U.S. Intelligence Community as the sixth Director of National Intelligence, from May 2020 to January 2021, making him the first person ever to serve as both Director of National Intelligence and as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
During his confirmation hearing, Director Ratcliffe promised a more aggressive Agency, and quickly delivered in support of the President’s national security priorities. Under Director Ratcliffe’s leadership, CIA has played a critical role in complex operations such as MIDNIGHT HAMMER, ABSOLUTE RESOLVE, and EPIC FURY, increased foreign intelligence collection by 25%, and established new organizations such as the Americas and Counternarcotics Mission Center, Directorate of Mission Systems, and the Mission Center for Cyber Intelligence to better address the challenges of today and emerging threats of the future. Under his leadership at the Agency, CIA is the “ultimate meritocracy”—ensuring the world’s premier spy agency remains laser-focused on its national security mission.
At President Trump’s direction, Director Ratcliffe traveled to Venezuela just 12 days after Nicolas Maduro’s arrest to advance U.S. interests with interim leadership and to Cuba to deliver strategic messages from Washington to Havana. He has also played a key role in securing the safe release and return of U.S. citizens wrongfully detained by Russia. Back in Washington, Director Ratcliffe has focused on enhancing public trust in CIA through an unwavering commitment to Mission and strict adherence to tradecraft standards of delivering objective, unbiased, apolitical collection and analysis.
During his time as the Director of National Intelligence, Director Ratcliffe led a shift in the U.S. Intelligence Community’s priorities to increase the U.S. intelligence advantage over the People’s Republic of China, and exercised strategic oversight over intelligence operations that removed terrorist leaders from the battlefield. As a member of the National Space Council, Director Ratcliffe elevated space to a priority intelligence domain and added the U.S. Space Force as the 18th member of the U.S. Intelligence Community.
Prior to his tenure as the Director of National Intelligence, Director Ratcliffe served for more than five years as the U.S. Representative for the 4th Congressional District of Texas, where he was a leading policymaker on national security issues as a member of the House Intelligence, Homeland Security, and Judiciary committees. His Congressional career followed one of public service — first as Chief of Anti-Terrorism and National Security and then as U.S. Attorney, both for the Eastern District of Texas. Director Ratcliffe was also a founding partner, with former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, of the law firm Ashcroft Sutton Ratcliffe.
Director Ratcliffe has received the National Security Medal, the Nation’s highest honor for distinguished achievement in the field of intelligence and national security, as well as the Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Medal. He earned a bachelor’s degree in government and international studies from the University of Notre Dame and his doctoral degree in law from Southern Methodist University School of Law.
Deputy Director of the CIA
Role of the Deputy Director
The CIA Deputy Director (DD/CIA) supports the Director in managing the Agency’s intelligence collection, analysis, covert action, counterintelligence, and liaison relationships with foreign services. The DD/CIA also exercises the Director’s powers in his or her absence or if the Director position becomes vacant.
Deputy Director Michael Ellis
Michael Ellis was sworn in as Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency on February 10, 2025. Deputy Director Ellis has held a variety of senior national security positions, including General Counsel of the National Security Agency and Senior Director for Intelligence Programs at the National Security Council.
Deputy Director Ellis previously served in the White House Counsel's Office, providing legal advice on national security and foreign relations. Prior to the White House, he was General Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and served as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve.
Before returning to government, Deputy Director Ellis was the General Counsel of Rumble, a publicly traded video sharing platform and cloud services provider.
Deputy Director Ellis is a graduate of Yale Law School and Dartmouth College. Following law school, he served as a clerk to two federal judges. He is a "Jeopardy!" champion.
Executive Director of the CIA
Role of the Executive Director
The Executive Director (EXDIR) assists DCIA and DD/CIA in overseeing CIA’s daily operations, strategic planning, and the development of the Agency’s annual budget.
Executive Director Dustin J. Gard-Weiss
Dustin J. Gard-Weiss was sworn in as Executive Director of the Central Intelligence Agency on August 4, 2025. Executive Director Gard-Weiss brings more than 20 years of senior leadership experience across defense, national security, and intelligence missions.
He was previously performing the duties of Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security, where he was the principal advisor on intelligence, counterintelligence, law enforcement, and security matters to the Secretary of Defense and senior Department of Defense (DoD) leadership.
Before joining the Office of the Secretary of Defense, he served in multiple senior roles at the ODNI, in the Intelligence Community and at DoD.
He holds a BA in International Relations from Brown University and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management.