August 30, 2021

The Honorable Chuck Schumer The Honorable Mitch McConnell Majority Leader Minority Leader United States Senate United States Senate Washington, DC 20510 Washington, DC 20510

Dear Majority Leader Schumer and Minority Leader McConnell:

As former leaders in the U.S. Intelligence Community under both Democratic and Republican administrations, we write to urge the immediate confirmation by the United States Senate of Brett M. Holmgren for the position of Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research (INR).

On April 12, 2021, President Biden nominated Mr. Holmgren to serve as the Assistant Secretary of State for INR. This role is vitally important to our national security. Among other things, the INR Assistant Secretary serves as the head of one of our Nation’s 18 intelligence organizations, acts as the principal advisor to the Secretary of State on all intelligence matters, oversees the analysis and production of all-source assessments to inform foreign policy decisions, and serves as the focal point within the Department of State for Intelligence Community activities.

While the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in late May favorably reported Mr. Holmgren out of the Committee unanimously, and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee successfully held a hearing for Mr. Holmgren in mid-June, he has yet to be confirmed. At a time when the Intelligence Community is heavily involved in providing assessments on key national security issues – from Afghanistan and anomalous health incidents to China, Russia and Iran – Mr. Holmgren’s leadership of INR would provide critical support to the Intelligence Community, the Department of State, and other policymakers.

Throughout his career, Mr. Holmgren has served with or alongside intelligence officers, diplomats, and warfighters. After 9/11, he joined the Intelligence Community as a counterterrorism analyst, first at the Defense Intelligence Agency – where he deployed to Iraq – and later at the Central Intelligence Agency. From 2011 to 2013, and again from 2014 to 2017, he served in several positions on the National Security Council staff at the White House, including as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Intelligence Programs. From 2013 to 2014, he served as Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Defense, providing counsel on intelligence, special operations, and cybersecurity matters. In addition to government service, Mr. Holmgren gained valuable private sector experience as the Vice President and Chief Technology Risk Officer at Capital One Financial from 2017 to 2020.

As a testament to Mr. Holmgren’s experience and achievements, he is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the CIA Hostile Action Service Medal, the Director of National Intelligence Superior Service Award, the CIA Director’s Award, and the Secretary of Defense Meritorious Civilian Service Award.

Mr. Holmgren believes deeply in the importance of INR’s mission to support US foreign policy and national security decision-making with apolitical, unvarnished intelligence assessments provided to the Secretary of State, the President, and other policymakers. As he stated during his confirmation hearings in May and June, his experiences in government have given him a “greater appreciation for the importance of analytic objectivity and the need for the Intelligence Community to tell the policymaker what they need to know, not what they want to hear.”

Importantly, Mr. Holmgren has pledged to focus INR on the most serious threats facing the United States – an increasingly aggressive and assertive China, Russia’s malign influence, Iran’s nuclear program and destabilizing activities, North Korea, cyber, terrorism, global health security, and the impact of climate change.

The threats facing the Nation are complex, evolving, and grave. At such a moment in our history, we cannot afford to leave the head of any U.S. intelligence component vacant.

We strongly urge the Senate to swiftly confirm Mr. Holmgren.

Sincerely,

Jeremy Bash, Former Chief of Staff to the Secretary of Defense and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency

John O. Brennan, Former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency

Robert Cardillo, Former Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

James R. Clapper, Jr., Former Director of National Intelligence

Dr. Thomas Fingar, Former Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research and former Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Analysis

Carl Ford, Former Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research

Glenn S. Gerstell, Former General Counsel of the National Security Agency

General Michael V. Hayden, USAF (Ret.), Former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency

Rick H. Ledgett, Jr., Former Deputy Director of the National Security Agency

Ellen McCarthy, Former Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research

Fran P. Moore, Former Director for Analysis, Central Intelligence Agency

Michael J. Morell, Former Acting Director and Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency

Stephanie O’Sullivan, Former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence

Leon Panetta, Former Secretary of Defense and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency

Laurence M. Pfeiffer, Former Chief of Staff to the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and former NSC Senior Director, White House Situation Room

Nicholas J. Rasmussen, Former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center

Nicholas Shapiro, Former Deputy Chief of Staff to the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency

Stephen Slick, Former Special Assistant to the President and NSC Senior Director for Intelligence Programs and Reform and former CIA senior operations officer

Lieutenant General Vincent R. Stewart, USMC (Ret.), Former Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and former Deputy Commander, U.S. Cyber Command

Michael G. Vickers Former Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence

cc: The Honorable Mark Warner The Honorable Bob Menendez Chairman Chairman Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Senate Foreign Relations Committee

The Honorable Marco Rubio The Honorable James Risch Vice Chairman Ranking Member Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Senate Foreign Relations Committee