Aaron Lukas will take over the national security role in Washington after Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard announced her resignation on Friday.
Lucas, who served as Gabbard’s principal deputy director of national intelligence (PDDNI), will now serve as acting director of national intelligence, according to President Donald Trump’s Truth Society post.
“Tulsi has done an incredible job and we will miss her. Her well-respected Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Aaron Lucas will serve as Acting Director of National Intelligence,” Trump wrote.
Gabbard will step down on June 30.
Five things to know about Aaron Lucas
1. Aaron Lukas is a veteran CIA officer with more than 20 years of intelligence experience. Lucas worked for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for more than two decades as both an analyst and a covert operations officer, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Lukas is deployed in multiple locations around the world.
“As someone who has spent most of his career on the intelligence front lines, I know firsthand the challenges we face as a community and the threats we face abroad,” Lucas said while joining PDDNI with Gabbard.
Gabbard also said that when she welcomed Lucas as head of the state police in 2025, she described him as someone who “understands virtually every aspect of intelligence work.”
2. Aaron Lucas served in Trump’s first administration. Lucas previously served in multiple senior national security positions during President Donald Trump’s first administration.
He served as chief of staff for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) under former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell and later became deputy senior director for Europe and Russia on the National Security Council.
3. Aaron Lukas is an alumnus of Texas A&M University and George Washington University. Lucas was born in Arkansas. In 1993, he graduated from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. In 1997, he graduated from George Washington University (GWU) with a Master of Arts in International Affairs.
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