Former senator from Indiana picked for director of national intelligence

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to choose former Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind., to serve as director of national intelligence. Coats served as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee before retiring from Congress last year. If confirmed by the Senate, he would oversee an agency created after 9/11 to improve coordination of U.S. spy and law enforcement groups. The selection comes amid a public back-and-forth between Trump and intelligence officials over whether Russia used hacking to influence the U.S. presidential election. Current Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told Congress today he had no doubt the Russian government was behind hacking attacks on the Democratic National Committee (DNC) during the campaign. On Twitter, Trump has both questioned the Kremlin’s role, repeating claims by Wikileaks founder Julian Assange that the Russian government did not provide leaked emails from the DNC, and said he supports the intelligence community.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.