As top U.S. spy chief, Haines will face task of restoring trust

WASHINGTON — Avril Haines, chosen by President-elect Joe Biden to become the next director of national intelligence, will face the tough job of restoring Americans’ trust in U.S. intelligence agencies, which in the past four years have faced a barrage of false accusations from illegal domestic spying to cooking up intelligence and have seen top officials forced out of office for speaking the truth.

In the four years since President Donald Trump took office, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has changed hands three times, with four directors overseeing the efforts of 17 different intelligence agencies spread across civilian and military departments, with a combined annual budget for fiscal 2020 in excess of $85 billion.

If confirmed by the Senate, Haines would become the first woman to hold the office, which was created in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks to avoid the intelligence failures that led to the first massive foreign terrorist assault on U.S. soil.

Haines previously served as deputy director of the CIA and as President Barack Obama’s principal deputy national security adviser.

Haines’s pick was welcomed by several congressional Democrats, who also noted the challenges she faces.

“President Trump has regularly ignored and degraded the intelligence professionals who put their lives on the line to keep us safe, and I do not envy the task Haines will have in rebuilding trust in our political leadership,” Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., chairman of the House Armed Services subcommittee on intelligence and emerging threats and capabilities, said in a statement.