News Archive
Dan Coats, '72, Officially Becomes Director of National Intelligence
03/16/2017
On March 15, the U.S. Senate voted 85-12 to confirm former Senator Dan Coats, ’72, as Director of National Intelligence (DNI). Coats was nominated in January by President Donald Trump and sworn in as DNI by Vice President Mike Pence, ’86, on March 16. Coats is the fifth person to hold the position which was created after the September 11 attacks.
Coats, who served in the Senate from 1989 to 1999, and again from 2010 through 2016, served as an ambassador to Germany during former President George W. Bush’s administration.
Coats is an Army veteran, and a graduate of Wheaton College, in addition to being an alumnus of the law school. After completing his legal studies, he worked for a life insurance company in Fort Wayne before joining the office of then-Congressman Dan Quayle, '74, as a district representative. Coats ran for office in 1980 and won a seat in the House of Representatives for the state’s 4th District. When Quayle resigned his U.S. Senate seat after being elected vice president of the United States in 1988, Coats was appointed to complete the term.
Coats stepped down as senator in 1999 in order to keep a term-limits pledge he made to voters. He then worked with the Washington, D.C., law firm Verner Liipfert Bernhard McPherson & Hand. He was named ambassador to Germany in 2001, a post he held until 2005, where he played a critical role in establishing a strong relationship with Chancellor Angela Merkel, and oversaw construction of a new U.S. embassy in Berlin. After serving as ambassador, he worked at the law firm King & Spalding in Washington, D.C.
During his second tour of service in the U.S. Senate, Coats served on four Senate committees: Appropriations; Select Intelligence; Commerce, Science and Transportation; and the Joint Economic Committee. He also served on one of the Senate's four original standing committees, the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, where he oversaw policies relating to transportation, communications, consumer affairs, science and technology.
