President Trump names local resident Richard Grenell as acting intelligence chief

President Donald Trump named US Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, a local resident, as the next acting director of national intelligence.

President Trump announced the move on Twitter.

Grenell is a part-time resident of Palm Springs and Los Angeles.

He has previously served at the United Nations during the George W. Bush Administration and was the former Press Secretary for Mitt Romney. President Trump nominated him as U.S. Ambassador to Germany in September 2017, he was sworn-in on May 3, 2018.

Grenell is the first openly gay ambassador in the Trump Administration.

The news of the pick comes as Trump faces a March 11 deadline to nominate a new director of national intelligence or name a new acting spy chief.

Federal law prevents the current acting DNI, Joseph Maguire, from serving beyond that date.

The New York Times was first to report the news.

Grenell is not expected to be nominated for the full-time DNI position, which would require Senate confirmation.

He has made clear he has wanted to leave his post in Germany for a while now to return to another administration job or the private sector, a person familiar told CNN.

This allows Trump to fill the job for the time being with a loyalist while he figures out a long term solution.

"Some Republicans are outraged with job he has done as ambassador, there is no way he could get confirmed," a source familiar with the move said.

The formal announcement from the White House could come as soon as the end of this week, a source says.