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President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday confirmed Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.) is his nominee for director of national intelligence.

"Dan has clearly demonstrated the deep subject matter expertise and sound judgment required to lead our intelligence community," the president-elect said in a statement. "If confirmed as director of national intelligence, he will provide unwavering leadership that the entire intelligence community can respect, and will spearhead my administration's ceaseless vigilance against those who seek to do us harm."

Coats' likely nomination was first reported Thursday in a New York Times story describing him as a "mild-mannered conservative." He served on the Senate Intelligence and Armed Services Committees before retiring from the Senate.