U.S. ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell meets with Isa Mustafa leader of LDK in Kosovo's capital Pristina on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020. U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy for talks between Balkan rivals Serbia and Kosovo on Thursday called on Pristina newly-expected government leaders to lift the 100% tariff on Serb goods and services in order to let the dialogue between the two countries to reach a final reconciliation agreement proceed. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

U.S. ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell meets with Isa Mustafa leader of LDK in Kosovo's capital Pristina on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020. U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy for talks between Balkan rivals Serbia and Kosovo on Thursday called on Pristina newly-expected government leaders to lift the 100% tariff on Serb goods and services in order to let the dialogue between the two countries to reach a final reconciliation agreement proceed. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell is the new acting national intelligence director, but he’s expected to be a short-timer overseeing the nation’s 17 spy agencies.

President Donald Trump named Grenell the acting director, but says he’ll nominate a permanent director soon. The president told reporters on Air Force One Thursday evening that he’s considering Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga. But Collins said Friday that he’s not interested.

The appointment of Grenell, an outspoken Trump loyalist with little to no intelligence experience, did nothing to heal the president’s fraught relations with an intelligence community he has derided as part of a “deep state” of entrenched bureaucrats seeking to undermine him. His administration has feuded with the intelligence community, most notably over Russian interference in the 2016 election and the events surrounding Trump’s impeachment.

But Grenell’s selection follows the logic of a Trump White House that prizes loyalty and has a penchant for “acting” Cabinet secretaries who don’t require a potentially bruising Senate confirmation.

The background of Grenell, the U.S. ambassador to Germany since April 2018, is primarily in politics and media affairs. He lacks the extensive national security and military experience of the acting director he replaces, Joseph Maguire, as well as previous holders of the position. Such experience appears to be required under the 2004 law that created the post to coordinate the work of the nation’s intelligence agencies.

“He is probably the most unqualified individual ever appointed to this position,” said Larry Pfeiffer, a former longtime intelligence agency official who helped establish the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

But Grenell has support among the president’s backers on Capitol Hill. “Ric has a proven track record of fighting for our country, and now, he will work every day to make sure Americans are safe,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said on Twitter.

In announcing Grenell’s appointment, the White House pointed to his diplomatic background and work as a spokesman for the U.S. mission to the United Nations. Trump said on Twitter that Grenell had represented the United States “exceedingly well.”

Grenell, who is apparently the first openly gay Cabinet member in any administration, said on Twitter that he expects to hold the job only on a temporary basis. “The President will announce the Nominee (not me) sometime soon,” he said.

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Trump told reporters Thursday that Collins was among those he was considering for the post, but Collins told Fox Business Network on Friday that he’s not interested and would not accept the job if Trump offered it to him.

Had Collins been interested, it could have averted a Republican-on-Republican contest in an all-party special election in Georgia. Collins has launched a bid against Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who distinguished herself during the Senate’s impeachment trial with her outspoken defense of the president.

Grenell is expected to be in the post for 90 days and a permanent replacement will be announced by Mar. 11, said a U.S. official. Among those under consideration are former Republican Rep. Pete Hoekstra, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal White House deliberations.

Grenell will continue to keep his ambassador post as well as a third job as special presidential envoy for Serbia and Kosovo peace negotiations, according to a U.S. official in Germany. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to respond to questions not addressed in a brief White House statement on the Grenell appointment.

Former officials expressed shock that Grenell would try to take on two of those jobs at the same time, let alone all three.

“What it signals is that Donald Trump is now making clear what we long suspected: That he has no use for a director of national intelligence,” said Ned Price, a former CIA officer who served as a special assistant to President Barack Obama on the National Security Council.

The director of national intelligence was created in response to the findings of the 9/11 Commission, which concluded that federal agencies failed to share valuable intelligence before the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.

The 2004 law establishing the position says the director “shall have extensive national security expertise.”

Previous directors have included retired Vice Adm. John “Mike” McConnell, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. James Clapper and Dan Coats, who served on the Intelligence Committee as a Republican senator from Indiana in addition to being a diplomat.

Maguire, an acting director, had been director of the National Counterterrorism Center and had a 36-year career as a naval special warfare officer. The tenure of Maguire and now of Grenell is limited by the Vacancies Reform Act, which allows the president to name an acting office holder for a limited period following the departure of the previous permanent one, in this case Coats.

That clock would expire on Mar. 11 unless Trump were to nominate a new permanent director before then, in which case Grenell could stay on, said Stephen Vladeck, a University of Texas law professor.

One benefit that Grenell brings, Pfeiffer said, is his strong relationship with the president, who has disputed intelligence findings that Russia interfered on his behalf in the 2016 election.

“It’s always good for the head of your intel community to be in good with the president,” said Pfeiffer, director of the Hayden Center for Intelligence Policy and International Security at George Mason University. “But beyond that his national security experience, though spanning a number of years, has always all been in the communications and public relations spin category and I’m not sure that’s ideally suited for speaking truth to power.”

Much like the president who appointed him, Grenell is a voracious tweeter whose posts have frequently been criticized for crossing the line between fair criticism and mean-spirited trolling. During a brief stint as a foreign affairs spokesman for Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign, Grenell deleted hundreds of past tweets goading media figures and mocking well-known female politicians for their appearance.

Since arriving in Germany as ambassador in 2018, Grenell has rankled many in the political establishment by openly criticizing German policies, including Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to welcome more than a million asylum seekers in 2015-16, while praising Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who has taken a hard line on migration, as a “rock star.”

Dating from his time as spokesman for former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton, Grenell has had an antagonistic relationship with members of the media, whom he frequently criticizes for perceived liberal bias. He has issued demands for retractions and corrections over unfavorable reports later confirmed to be accurate.

Last month, he took to Twitter when The Washington Post reported the Trump administration threatened to impose a 25% tariff on vehicles manufactured in three European countries, including Germany, unless they met U.S. demands for actions against Iran.

Grenell slammed the Post reporter who wrote the story for “Fake News.”

The following day, a German foreign ministry official confirmed the Trump tariff threat in a briefing to a parliamentary committee.

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Associated Press writers David Rising in Berlin; Zeke Miller in Las Vegas and Michael Biesecker and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.