Daniel Davis, a senior fellow at the isolationist Defense Priorities think tank with a record of strident criticism of Israel, has been tapped as a deputy director of national intelligence, three sources with knowledge of the selection told Jewish Insider. Davis has also lambasted U.S. support for the war in Gaza as a moral and strategic mistake.
He has opposed military action to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, and suggested that it is only U.S. and Israeli policy and actions that are pushing Iran toward pursuing a nuclear weapon.
Three sources told JI that Davis, a retired military officer and early critic of the Afghanistan war, has been offered and accepted the position of deputy DNI for mission integration, one of the top jobs at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence under DNI Tulsi Gabbard, and is waiting on the completion of his background check.
The mission integration role “serves as the DNI’s principal advisor on all aspects of intelligence,” according to the DNI website, and does not require Senate confirmation.
Davis joins a growing series of appointees in key positions across a number of national security agencies who fall far outside of the mainstream on Israel and Middle East policy, several of whom, including Michael DiMino, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, and Dan Caldwell, a Pentagon senior advisor, are also alumni of the Koch-linked Defense Priorities.
As recently as Jan. 12, Davis called U.S. support for the war in Gaza a mistake.
