James Clapper Steps Down as Director of National Intelligence

James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, resigned his post Wednesday night.

Clapper served as DNI since 2010 and had previously announced his plans to step down at the end of President Obama's term.

Senators James Lankford (R-OK) and Angus King (I-ME), who serve on the Senate Intelligence Committee, sent a letter to President-elect Donald Trump, urging him to make the nomination of a new director of intelligence a priority.

The nominee should be experienced and willing to work with others to advise on the nominations of other intelligence agency leaders, they said.

"A successful DNI makes the intelligence community more efficient, more collaborative, limits redundancies, and advances seamless information sharing across our intelligence agencies," Senators King and Lankford wrote in their letter.