James Clapper, US director of national intelligence, has tendered his resignation ahead of the inauguration of Donald Trump.
Analysts say he is sending a signal to the Trump administration that they must now speed up the transition.
Clapper’s turbulent tenure as director of national intelligence was defined by combating whistleblower Edward Snowden’s National Security Agency revelations and defending his own integrity after those disclosures contradicted his statements to Congress.
Clapper, who had clashed with President-elect Donald Trump’s aide Michael Flynn, told a hearing of the house intelligence committee on Wednesday that he had submitted his resignation on Wednesday night and felt “pretty good” about it.
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“I’ve got 64 days left and I think I’d have a hard time with my wife with anything past that,” he told the committee.
During Clapper’s Thursday testimony, he was asked if Trump will open up a rapprochement with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, but answered that he does not predict a “significant change in Russian behaviour”.
Clapper had authority over 17 different agencies including the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), and the (Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
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More than 107,000 employees report to him with a combined budget of over $52 billion.
President Barack Obama appointed him in 2010.
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