CAREER DIPLOMAT TAPPED FOR CIA

WILMINGTON U. S. president-elect Joe Biden on Monday tapped a former career diplomat in William Burns to lead the CIA as the Democrat raced to put a national security team in place days before his inauguration.

Burns, who speaks Arabic and Russian, was ambassador to Moscow from 2005 to 2008 and led secret talks that paved the way to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal under former president Barack Obama.

The Biden administration would be keen to revive the nuclear deal abandoned by President Donald Trump and also to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin for a cyber attack on U.S. government agencies last year. The Kremlin has denied responsibility.

Burns, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, would also head an agency advising Biden on China.