For her part, Ms. Sanner was instrumental in providing Ms. Haines with full information through the Office of the Director for National Intelligence and working on White House inquiries for new intelligence assessments. But Ms. Sanner plans to “complete her tour in May,” said Amanda Schoch, the bureau’s top spokeswoman.
“Beth Sanner is an exceptional professional intelligence officer who has served as Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Mission Integration with honors,” said Ms. Schoch.
For nearly two years, Ms. Sanner, a CIA analyst, briefed Mr. Trump on an assignment that required her to endure the president’s digressions, abuse, and conspiracy theories about the 2016 and 2020 elections. After 20 months as president and top advisor to five directors of the national intelligence agency, Ms. Sanner is ready to end her current role, according to an intelligence officer who was not authorized to speak publicly.
Ms. Sanner could retire, but it is also possible that she will be offered another high-level intelligence position. Some presidential representatives have held senior positions in the CIA, while others have directed other intelligence agencies.
Ms. Sanner, like most intelligence officers, was uncomfortable with media attention to her role in the Trump administration, which her colleagues did not do well for the intelligence community.
When Mr Trump was attacked for dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, he blamed Ms Sanner, if not by name, for a newscast that he said underestimated the dangers of the virus, a report that her defense lawyers were very skeptical of .
While all presidents are known to create bad days for high-ranking intelligence officials, intelligence officials say no shorter president has had a more challenging job than Ms. Sanner. Until the last few months leading up to the election, when Mr Trump spoke frequently to his director of national intelligence, John Ratcliffe, Ms. Sanner was holding meetings for the president twice a week.
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