Second Trump Administration – Independent Agencies

Nominations and Appointments

Central Intelligence Agency

John Ratcliffe is Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Ratcliffe previously served as the U.S. Director of National Intelligence and as a U.S. Representative for Texas’s 4th Congressional District. ¹ 

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Lee Zeldin is the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Zeldin previously served as a U.S. Representative for New York from 2015 to 2023, and as a New York State Senator from 2011 to 2014. ²

David Fotouhi is the Deputy Administrator of the EPA. Fotouhi previously served as Acting General Counsel and Principal Deputy General Counsel at the Environmental Protection Agency during the Trump administration. He later worked as a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP specializing in environmental law and earlier clerked for a federal appellate judge. ³

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Kash Patel is the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Patel previously served in senior roles across the Department of Justice, the National Security Council, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Prior to leading the FBI, he worked as a federal public defender, DOJ prosecutor, and congressional intelligence aide. ⁴

Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

Andrew N. Ferguson is the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. Ferguson previously served as Solicitor General of Virginia, chief counsel to Mitch McConnell, and counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee. He also practiced law in Washington, D.C., and clerked for a federal appellate judge and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. ⁵

Mark R Meador is Commissioner of the FTC. Previously, Meador worked in as a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Tech Policy Center, and served as Deputy Chief Counsel for Antitrust and Competition Policy to Mike Lee. He also worked as a trial attorney in the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division and began his career in the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition. ⁶

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Jared Isaacman is the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Isaacman is a former CEO and founder of Shift4 and co-founder of Draken International, with prior experience in payment processing and aerospace services. He is also a commercial astronaut and pilot who commanded private orbital missions, including Inspiration4 and Polaris Dawn. ⁷

Securities and Exchange Commission

Paul S. Atkins is the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Atkins served as SEC Commissioner from 2002 to 2008. Prior to returning to the agency, he founded and led Patomak Global Partners and held leadership roles in securities regulation, consulting, and corporate finance, including work on digital asset policy. ⁸