Trump picks Coats as national intelligence director

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday picked former US Sen. Dan Coats as his director of national intelligence, a senior transition official said.

The official announcement is expected this week as Trump makes decisions on some of the remaining top positions he must fill as he prepares to take over the White House on January 20.

Coats met with Trump on November 30 at Trump Tower in New York City.

Coats, an Indiana Republican, announced in March 2015 that he would not seek reelection to his seat in 2016, saying it was time to hand off the “demanding job.”

Coats previously served in the US Congress from 19811999, when he left the Senate without seeking reelection. He was US ambassador to Germany and worked for a law firm, then returned to the Senate in 2011, according to a biography on his website.

Notably, Coats was the author of legislation in 2014 which sought to cut off all US business with Russia’s state-owned arms exporter, Rosoboronexport, in response to Moscow’s intervention in Ukraine.

Coats was one of nine US officials and lawmakers to be placed on a Russian sanctions list last week.

The bill would bar contracts with any US or foreign company that cooperates with the Russian arms exporter to design, manufacture or sell military equipment.

“This amendment would harm the Russian arms industry, the Russian economy, Russian prestige and [President Vladimir] Putin’s standing in the world. That ought to be our goal,” Coats said in the Senate at the time.