BIDEN PICKS CAREER DIPLOMAT AS CIA CHIEF
President-elect Joe Biden has selected William Burns, a career State Department official who led the U.S. delegation in secret talks with Iran, to run the CIA.
In selecting Burns, Biden is turning to an experienced diplomat with whom he has a long relationship. The two men have worked together on various foreign policy issues, not just during the Obama administration, but also while Biden led the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Biden said Burns’ first task would be to make sure that intelligence collection and analysis were not inf luenced by politics.
In a statement early Monday, the president-elect said that Burns, 64, “shares my profound belief that intelligence must be apolitical and that the dedicated intelligence professionals serving our nation deserve our gratitude and respect.”
Burns has a reputation for nonpartisanship and has held key diplomatic posts in both Democratic and Republican administrations, experience that should make his confirmation by the Senate relatively straightforward.
The pick of Burns suggests that Biden is putting an emphasis on traditional national security threats. Burns has long experience with Iran and Russia.
He was instrumental in starting secret talks with Tehran in the Obama administration, which ultimately resulted in the nuclear deal in which Iran agreed to give up its nuclear program in exchange for relief from punishing sanctions on its economy by six world powers, including the United States. Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018, and Burns could prove critical in aiding the administration in restarting discussions with Tehran.
Burns also served as ambassador to Russia from 2005 to 2008, making him a keen observer of President Vladimir Putin.
Burns is currently the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.