Who is Daniel Coats? 3 things to know about the director of national intelligence

Daniel Coats is the fifth Director of National Intelligence. (Reuters/ Joshua Roberts)

Daniel Coats is one of President Trump’s cabinet members, serving as the fifth director of national intelligence. He was sworn in on March 16, 2017.

As Director of National Intelligence, the 74-year-old  “leads the United States Intelligence Community (IC) and serves as the principal intelligence advisor to the President,” according to his White House biography.

Here are three things to know about Coats.

He was once the U.S. ambassador to Germany

Coats is a former diplomat, serving during former President George W. Bush’s presidency as the U.S. ambassador to Germany from 2001 to 2005.

Coats arrived in Germany just days before the September 11 attacks, according to his biography.

“Ambassador Coats found himself thrown into a role he couldn’t have foreseen a day earlier, a role in which he would excel but one that would forever change him,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., once said of Coats.

As ambassador, Coats played “a critical role in establishing robust relations and in the construction of a new United States Embassy in the heart of Berlin,” according to his biography.

Coats is a two-time senator from Indiana

Coats is a two-time Republican senator from Indiana.

He succeeded former Indiana Sen. Dan Quayle after he became vice president to George H.W. Bush in 1988.

Rising debt is a ‘dire threat’ to our national security: Dan Coats

OMB Director Mick Mulvaney was grilled on Capitol Hill today over his budget proposal, which Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats says is a threat to our national security.

Coats, who served in the Senate until 1999, also served on the Senate Armed Services Committee and Select Committee on Intelligence, according to his White House biography.

After a number of years away from the Senate, he returned in 2011 until his retirement in 2017.

Prior to to becoming a senator, Coats was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, serving Indiana’s 4th district from 1981 to 1989.

He's worked a lot with Big Brothers Big Sisters

Coats has worked extensively with the organization Big Brothers Big Sisters, first volunteering with the youth mentoring program when he was 29 years old.

In 1978, he joined the organization’s Northeast Indiana board of directors. In 1993, he was elected to the national Big Brothers Big Sisters board.

Coats received the organization’s highest national honor in 2012 for his work with the nonprofit.