Dan Coats

Dan Coats
Official portrait, 2017
5th Director of National Intelligence
In office
March 16, 2017 – August 15, 2019
PresidentDonald Trump
DeputySusan M. Gordon
Preceded byJames Clapper
Succeeded byJohn Ratcliffe
Chair of the Joint Economic Committee
In office
January 3, 2015 – January 3, 2017
Preceded byKevin Brady
Succeeded byPat Tiberi
United States Senator
from Indiana
In office
January 3, 2011 – January 3, 2017
Preceded byEvan Bayh
Succeeded byTodd Young
In office
January 3, 1989 – January 3, 1999
Preceded byDan Quayle
Succeeded byEvan Bayh
United States Ambassador to Germany
In office
August 15, 2001 – February 28, 2005
PresidentGeorge W. Bush
Preceded byJohn C. Kornblum
Succeeded byWilliam R. Timken
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Indiana's 4th district
In office
January 3, 1981 – January 3, 1989
Preceded byDan Quayle
Succeeded byJill Long Thompson
Personal details
Born
Daniel Ray Coats

(1943-05-16) May 16, 1943 (age 81)
Jackson, Michigan, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse
Marsha Coats
(m. 1965)
Children3
EducationWheaton College (BA)
Indiana University, Indianapolis (JD)
Military service
Branch/serviceUnited States Army
Years of service1966–1968
RankStaff Sergeant

Daniel Ray Coats (born May 16, 1943) is an American politician, attorney, and diplomat. From 2017 to 2019, he served as the Director of National Intelligence in the Trump administration. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a United States Senator from Indiana from 1989 to 1999 and again from 2011 to 2017. He was the United States Ambassador to Germany from 2001 to 2005, and a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1981 to 1989. Coats served on the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence while in the U.S. Senate.

Born in Jackson, Michigan, Coats graduated from Wheaton College in Illinois and the Indiana University School of Law – Indianapolis. He served in the U.S. Army from 1966 to 1968. Coats represented Indiana's 4th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1981 to 1989. He was appointed to fill the Senate seat vacated by Dan Quayle following Quayle's election as Vice President of the United States. Coats won the 1990 special election to serve the remainder of Quayle's unexpired term, as well as the 1992 election for a full six-year term. He did not seek reelection in 1998 and was succeeded by Democrat Evan Bayh.

After retiring from the Senate, Coats served as U.S. ambassador to Germany from 2001 to 2005 and then worked as a lobbyist in Washington, D.C. He was reelected to the Senate by a large margin in 2010, succeeding Bayh, who announced his own retirement shortly after Coats declared his candidacy. Coats declined to run for reelection in 2016 and was succeeded by Todd Young. He was nominated as Director of National Intelligence in January 2017, succeeding James R. Clapper.[1] His term in office commenced on March 16, 2017, and ended on August 15, 2019.[2][3][4][5]

  1. ^ "Trump selects former Indiana Sen. Coats for top intelligence post". Chicagotribune.com. January 5, 2017. Retrieved January 23, 2017.
  2. ^ "Donald J. Trump". twitter.com. July 28, 2019.
  3. ^ Steve Holland, Jeff Mason (July 28, 2019). "Ratcliffe tapped to replace Coats as U.S. spy chief". www.reuters.com.
  4. ^ "Dan Coats to step down, Trump tweets, as President announces Ratcliffe will be nominated as next director of national intelligence". CNN. July 28, 2019. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  5. ^ "DNI Daniel R. Coats Resignation Letter". www.dni.gov. Archived from the original on August 18, 2019. Retrieved August 18, 2019.