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Reports: Ex-rival Fiorina may be Trump's pick for U.S. intelligence director

By Doug G. Ware
Former Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina walks in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York City on Monday. She said after meeting Trump that she supports his administration nominees. It was reported Monday that Fiorina is under consideration as Trump's director of national intelligence. Pool photo by Albin Lohr-Jones/UPI
Former Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina walks in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York City on Monday. She said after meeting Trump that she supports his administration nominees. It was reported Monday that Fiorina is under consideration as Trump's director of national intelligence. Pool photo by Albin Lohr-Jones/UPI | License Photo

NEW YORK, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- Former tech executive and Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina is being considered by President-elect Donald Trump for the top intelligence post in the country, reports said Monday.

According to a report in the New York Times, Trump is eyeing Fiorina as his choice for U.S. director of national intelligence -- the government official who's primary national security adviser to the president and head of 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA.

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Fiorina met privately with Trump on Monday at Trump Tower in New York.

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"We talked about hacking, whether it's Chinese hacking or purported Russian hacking," she said afterward. "We talked about the opportunity that the president-elect has to literally reset things, to reset the trajectory of this economy, to reset the role of government, to reset America's role in the world and how we're perceived in the world."

Fiorina, former CEO at HP, clashed extensively with Trump when both were running for the GOP presidential nomination. If given the post of DNI, she would join Ben Carson (housing secretary) as former rivals who will now be in Trump's administration.

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The Times report cited an unnamed transition official in reporting Fiorina is under consideration for the intelligence role.

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Fiorina and Trump had a "positive and productive meeting" on various issues from "America's strategic interests and national security challenges abroad to the geopolitical climate across the world and in China," spokesman Frank Sadler told USA Today Monday.

In matters of intelligence, Trump has so far appointed retired Gen. James Mattis as defense secretary, Michael Flynn as national security adviser, Mike Pompeo as CIA director and retired Gen. John Kelly as homeland security secretary.

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