William P. Ruger
William Ruger | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Personal details | |
| Education | College of William and Mary (BA, MA) Brandeis University (PhD) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service |  United States Navy |
| Battles/wars | War in Afghanistan |
William P. Ruger[1] (born 1971) is currently the United States Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Mission Integration in the administration of Donald Trump.[2][3]
Ruger was appointed to this position in April 2025, and serves under Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. As Deputy Director, he is responsible for preparing daily intelligence briefings for the president. Media reports of his views describe Ruger as a supporter of the MAGA wing of the Republican Party, and as a foreign policy isolationist and "Iran Dove."[4]
Biography
[edit]Ruger earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of William & Mary and a PhD in politics from Brandeis University. Ruger fought in the War in Afghanistan as a member of the United States Navy Reserve.[5][6]
Ruger worked as a professor of political science at Texas State University and the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs.[7]
Prior to joining the Trump administration, Ruger served as vice president for research and policy at the Charles Koch Institute from 2014 to 2019 and as vice president for foreign policy at Stand Together from 2019 to 2022.[8] From 2022 to April 2025 he served as the president of the American Institute for Economic Research.[9]
He has served on the Board of Directors for the Center for the National Interest[10] and the board of American Conservative Magazine. He is also a non-resident senior fellow at Defense Priorities.[11]
In September 2020, Ruger was nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as the United States Ambassador to Afghanistan.[12][13] Prior to his nomination, Ruger had advocated for the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.[14][15] Ruger has been associated with the foreign policy realism movement.[16] On January 3, 2021, his nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the United States Senate.[17]
Policy Positions
[edit]Ruger is known among foreign policy circles as Realist. Ruger supported U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan during the first Trump and Biden administrations.[18] He is a skeptic of U.S. military and financial support for Ukraine following the Russian Invasion of Ukraine. In June 2023, Ruger delivered a keynote lecture urging a peaceful solution to the war in Ukraine at the Mathias Corvinus Collegium Peace Forum in Budapest, Hungary.[19] In 2024 Ruger co-organized a letter opposing the admission of Ukraine into NATO.[20]
During the 2024 presidential election, Ruger endorsed the selection of JD Vance as Donald Trump's running mate, arguing that this choice was a repudiation of the neoconservative wing of the Republican Party.[21] He is listed as a foreign policy advisor to Project 2025.[22]
Ruger has opposed Trump's tariff policies in 2018 and 2019, posting on Twitter that they will harm Americans, particularly farmers. Ruger has since deleted these posts.[23] Ruger also wrote an op-ed in the New York Times stating that "America’s approach to the world just isn’t working to make us safer and more prosperous. And President Trump isn’t helping."[24]
More recently, Ruger issued a statement to the press that the President is "rightly putting Americans first" by "making sure that our trade policies don’t undermine our national security needs while getting tough on countries with unfair trade practices."[25]
References
[edit]- ^ "William P. Ruger". Defense Priorities. June 10, 2020. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
- ^ "Leadership". www.dni.gov. Retrieved April 19, 2025.
- ^ Nichols, Hans (April 11, 2025). "Scoop: Gabbard installs skeptic of military action against Iran to key intel job". Axios. Retrieved April 19, 2025.
- ^ Nichols, Hans (April 11, 2025). "Scoop: Gabbard installs skeptic of military action against Iran to key intel job". Axios. Retrieved April 19, 2025.
- ^ "Trump nominates war skeptic as ambassador to Afghanistan". Stars and Stripes. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
- ^ Vella, Lauren (September 10, 2020). "Overnight Defense: Trump announces new US ambassador to Afghanistan | Pentagon officially withdraws plan to end 'Stars and Stripes' | Biden says Trump doesn't understand national security, intel officials 'don't trust' him". TheHill. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
- ^ "William P. Ruger, Charles Koch Institute's schedule for 26th SPN Annual Meeting". 26thspnannualmeeting2018.sched.com. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
- ^ Gage, Beverly (September 10, 2019). "The Koch Foundation Is Trying to Reshape Foreign Policy. With Liberal Allies". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
- ^ "William Ruger | AIER". www.aier.org. February 4, 2022. Retrieved July 7, 2022.
- ^ "Board of Directors – Center for the National Interest". cftni.org. Retrieved April 19, 2025.
- ^ Day, Andrew (April 16, 2025). "Longtime Restrainer Gets Top Intelligence Role". The American Conservative. Retrieved April 19, 2025.
- ^ "President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate the Following Individual to a Key Administration Post". whitehouse.gov. Retrieved September 19, 2020 – via National Archives.
- ^ Ballhaus, Rebecca (September 4, 2020). "WSJ News Exclusive | Trump Expected to Nominate a New Ambassador to Afghanistan". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
- ^ Gramer, Jack Detsch, Robbie (September 10, 2020). "Will Trump's Troop Drawdown Plans Destabilize Iraq and Afghanistan (Again)?". Foreign Policy. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Ruger, William (May 28, 2020). "President Trump Is Right On Afghanistan". The National Interest. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
- ^ "Why U.S. Foreign Policy Isn't Making America Safer". Retrieved September 19, 2020.
- ^ "PN2234 - Nomination of William Ruger for Department of State, 116th Congress (2019-2020)". www.congress.gov. January 3, 2021. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
- ^ Nichols, Hans (April 11, 2025). "Scoop: Gabbard installs skeptic of military action against Iran to key intel job". Axios. Retrieved April 19, 2025.
- ^ "The US Foreign Policy and the Challenge of War in Ukraine". www.mcc.ro. June 13, 2023. Retrieved April 19, 2025.
- ^ Berg, Matt (July 3, 2024). "Ukraine 'bridge' to NATO could be dangerous, experts warn". POLITICO. Retrieved April 19, 2025.
- ^ Heilbrunn, Jacob (July 17, 2024). "With Vance Selection, Trump Doubles Down on America First". Washington Monthly. Retrieved April 19, 2025.
- ^ Shao, Elena; Wu, Ashley (October 22, 2024). "The Many Links Between Project 2025 and Trump's World". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 19, 2025.
- ^ Levine, Jon (April 16, 2025). "Trump Critic Will Ruger Set To Join Administration". Retrieved April 24, 2025.
- ^ Ruger, William (March 19, 2018). "Opinion | To Defend America, Don't Overreach". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 24, 2025.
- ^ Bellow, Heather (April 17, 2025). "Great Barrington resident tapped by Trump administration for top national intelligence post". The Berkshire Eagle. Retrieved April 19, 2025.