Richard Grenell (file photo)
Donald Trump named Richard Grenell, U.S. ambassador to Germany, as acting director of national intelligence on Wednesday, Feb. 19. He becomes the first openly gay person to hold a cabinet-level position. He has no experience working in intelligence.
Grenell was nominated to be ambassador in September 2017 and was confirmed by the Senate by a 56-42 vote. He has been serving since April 2018. In his position as ambassador, Grenell called Germany’s NATO contribution “woeful” and criticized the country’s immigration policy. On his second day in office, he issued a statement that said, “German companies doing business in Iran should wind down operations immediately.” That was considered inappropriate and taken as a threat. During his term in office, Grenell continued to interfere in German politics, siding with conservative political parties in interviews and making statements the German government found offensive.
Before that, Grenell served as spokesman under four ambassadors to the United Nations.
In 2012, he served for a short time as foreign policy spokesman for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. In that position, he was the first out spokesman for a Republican presidential candidate. But Grenell stepped down after just a few weeks because right wing protests from within the Republican Party over his sexual orientation.
— David Taffet
