CIA Director John Ratcliffe has quietly become one of President Donald Trump’s most effective weapons inside Washington — a “quiet hammer,” as a source close to the White House described him, who goes in, completes the mission, and disappears back into the shadows.
That reputation was cemented just days after U.S. forces captured and removed Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro. Only 12 days later, Trump sent Ratcliffe to Venezuela, making him the first cabinet-level official to visit since Maduro’s ouster. There, Ratcliffe met with acting President Delcy Rodríguez, underscoring the administration’s new assertive posture in the Western Hemisphere.
“Ratcliffe has become Trump’s quiet hammer,” the source said. “He goes in, accomplishes whatever mission the President gave him, then disappears back into the shadows. The Agency seems to have adopted the same approach, so Trump actually deserves credit for turning the CIA into an instrument of America First power.”
Over the past year, Ratcliffe has reshaped the CIA in Trump’s vision, reversing what many inside the intelligence community viewed as years of politicization and mission drift. CIA officials and administration sources describe a renewed focus on aggressive intelligence collection, risk-taking, and delivering real results for U.S. national security.
“Under Director John Ratcliffe, CIA is back to focusing on mission and is executing on President Trump’s national security priorities,” CIA Director of Public Affairs Liz Lyons said. “This is a more aggressive CIA willing to take risks to give the United States a decisive advantage. In less than a year, CIA helped deliver historic wins — especially in the Middle East and Western Hemisphere — to safeguard American interests and bolster our National Security.”
One of Ratcliffe’s first major moves was dismantling every Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) program inside the CIA. All DEI initiatives were eliminated, and the agency returned to a merit-based culture focused strictly on performance and capability — not ideology.
He has also pushed transparency further than any CIA director in recent memory. Ratcliffe declassified and released thousands of documents related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He ordered internal reviews of flawed intelligence assessments from the post-2016 election era and released them publicly, exposing how political bias distorted intelligence conclusions.
Working with Attorney General Pam Bondi, Ratcliffe helped declassify intelligence tied to the Durham investigation, showing that the “Russia collusion” narrative was manufactured to damage Trump’s presidency. He also released assessments raising concerns about Joe Biden’s family business dealings in Ukraine and publicly stated that COVID-19 was more likely caused by a lab leak than a natural spillover.
“I don’t want to comment much on criminal matters the Department of Justice may be pursuing,” Ratcliffe said, “but individuals in the Intelligence Community who abused the public’s trust, weaponized their roles against President Trump, and politicized intelligence should be held accountable. We made it clear from day one — if you’re a political operator rather than a public servant, you’ve got to go.”
Inside CIA headquarters, Ratcliffe keeps a chart tracking the number of agency assets — a number that declined sharply before Trump’s return and is now rising again. He uses it as a reminder that intelligence success is measured by real-world results: recruiting sources, stealing adversaries’ secrets, and delivering actionable intelligence to the President.
“That’s the scorecard,” Ratcliffe said. “Are we recruiting assets? Are we stealing our adversaries’ secrets and giving President Trump the best possible information so he can continue calling the shots and delivering results for the American people? We’re relentless about that.”
Under Ratcliffe, the CIA has also taken the fight directly to America’s top adversaries. The agency released Mandarin-language recruitment videos aimed at Chinese officials, a campaign that has reportedly drawn significant interest and produced valuable intelligence. Countering China has become a central priority for both Ratcliffe and Trump.
After a year back in office, the message from Langley is clear: the CIA is no longer focused on politics or optics. It is focused on mission. And under Trump and Ratcliffe, it is once again being used as a tool of American power — quietly, forcefully, and without apology.
