WASHINGTON >> The Senate on Thursday confirmed John Ratcliffe as CIA director, giving President Donald Trump the second member of his new Cabinet.

Ratcliffe was director of national intelligence during Trump’s first term and is the first person to have held that position and the top post at the CIA, the nation’s premier spy agency. The Texas Republican is a former federal prosecutor who emerged as a fierce Trump defender while serving as a congressman during Trump’s first impeachment.

The vote was 74-25.

At his Senate hearing last week, Ratcliffe said the CIA must do better when it comes to using technology such as artificial intelligence to confront adversaries including Russia and China. He said the United States needed to improve its intelligence capabilities while also ensuring the protection of Americans’ civil rights.

Ratcliffe said that if confirmed, he would push the CIA to do more to harness technologies such as AI and quantum computing while expanding use of human intelligence collection.

“We’re not where we’re supposed to be,” Ratcliffe told members of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Democrats raised questions about Ratcliffe’s objectivity and whether his loyalty to Trump would prompt him to politicize his position and blind him to the duties of the job. Concerns from Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., forced the Senate’s Republican leaders to postpone Ratcliffe’s confirmation vote, originally scheduled for Tuesday.

Former Florida Sen. Marco Rubio was confirmed earlier this week as secretary of state, the first member of Trump’s Cabinet.

Ratcliffe has said he views China as America’s greatest geopolitical rival, and that Russia, Iran, North Korea and drug cartels, hacking gangs and terrorist organizations also pose challenges to national security.