Biden chooses his CIA nominee
Warned in 2002 of dangers in invading Iraq
President-elect Joe Biden will nominate longtime diplomat William Burns to serve as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, the transition committee said in a news release.
Burns, a career diplomat who served in the Middle East and Russia, will inherit the country’s premier intelligence agency as national security and espionage from rival nations such as China, Iran and Russia are of chief concern to the incoming administration.
The transition team touted Burns as well-prepared for the challenge, noting “he has the experience and skill to marshal efforts across government and around the world to ensure the CIA is positioned to protect the American people.”
Burns “shares my profound belief that intelligence must be apolitical and that the dedicated intelligence professionals serving our nation deserve our gratitude and respect,” Biden said in a statement.
“Ambassador Burns will bring the knowledge, judgment, and perspective we need to prevent and confront threats before they can reach our shores,” he continued.
“A national security expert with decades of experience serving under Democratic and Republican presidents, Ambassador Bill Burns has a deep understanding of the global threats and challenges facing our country,” Vice President-elect Kamala Harris said in a statement.
“He will lead the CIA with independence and integrity, always honoring our nation’s intelligence professionals,” she assured.
Burns left the U.S. Foreign Service in 2014 after 33 years of working in diplomacy under Democratic and Republican administrations. Burns served as the deputy secretary of state in the Obama administration, only the second career diplomat to serve in the position.
Burns was ambassador to Russia from 2005 to 2008, the assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs from 2001 to 2005 and the ambassador to Jordan from 1998 to 2001.
Most recently, Burns was president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington think tank with a focus on foreign policy and international affairs.
Biden selected Burns over a field of career intelligence officials, several of whom had come under scrutiny from some Democrats for their involvement in controversial espionage and torture programs in their careers.
Burns has identified intelligence as a key part of American foreign policy going forward, noting it must be used in concert with diplomacy and military force, as well as economic and cultural soft power.
“For better or worse, we will never again enjoy the monopoly we once had – or imagined we had – in foreign policymaking and execution. We have to come to terms with that,” Burns said in 2019 in an interview with the American Foreign Service Association.