WASHINGTON (AP) – William Burns, a well-known figure in diplomatic circles around the world, is President-elect Joe Biden choice to lead the CIA, a selection likely to be adopted by the bases of the country’s top spy agency.
Former ambassador to Russia and Jordan, Burns, 64, had a 33-year career in the State Department under Republican and Democratic presidents. He rose through the ranks of the diplomatic corps to become deputy secretary of state before retiring in 2014 to head the Carnegie Endowment of International Peace.
If confirmed, he would succeed Gina Haspel, the first CIA director, who ran the agency under President Donald Trump. Trump expressed skepticism about intelligence and often discredited the assessments of U.S. spy agencies, especially about Russia’s interference in the 2016 elections to aid his campaign.
Trump also fired several career intelligence professionals on behalf of loyal people, including some with little or no experience in the field.
Burns was never an American intelligence officer, but he has worked with many overseas.
“I developed a huge respect for my colleagues at the CIA,” Burns said in an online video on Monday with Biden. “I served with them in difficult places around the world. I saw firsthand the courage and professionalism they showed and the sacrifices their families made. “
Burns considers intelligence to be the country’s first line of defense and the basis for sound political decision-making. He also said he would hand over intelligence to Biden and policymakers “without any hint of partisanship.”
Burns is perhaps an unconventional choice for the CIA position that many thought a career intelligence officer would have.
However, he is also deeply experienced in the type of secret contact that is a trademark of the agency and has won applause for his analytical and reporting skills while serving as an American diplomat abroad. Burns was the author of some of the State Department’s most insightful cables published by Wikileaks in 2010 and is widely respected by the entire national security community.
Michael Morell, a career intelligence officer and former interim director of the CIA whose name was released to take the leadership position under Biden, praised the choice, an indication that Burns is likely to be embraced by the spy agency base.
“I have known Bill Burns for decades. … His mastery of issues, his deep respect for intelligence and his care for people will guarantee this ”, tweeted Morell.
Norman Roule, a 34-year-old CIA veteran and an Iran expert in the intelligence community, agreed: “Bill Burns is deeply respected for his integrity, honesty and commitment to the workforce,” Roule tweeted. “He will arrive with a lot of respect for the IC and its work.”
Amid the turmoil at the State Department after Trump took office in 2017, Burns held his tongue until last year, when he began writing highly critical articles on the Trump administration’s policies on foreign affairs and other publications. Burns has been a staunch supporter of the reconstruction and restructuring of foreign service, positions to which Biden has aligned himself.
Biden said in a statement on Monday that Burns shares his “deep belief that intelligence must be non-political”.
“Ambassador Burns will bring the knowledge, insight and perspective we need to prevent and address threats before they reach our shores,” said Biden. “The American people will sleep soundly with him as our next CIA director.”
Burns was said to be a candidate for Biden’s secretary of state. Biden chose Anthony Blinken instead.
He joined the foreign service in 1982 and, before being appointed ambassador to Russia in 2005, he served as senior adviser to former State Secretaries William Christopher and Madeleine Albright, as well as director of the State Department’s policy planning office.
He has received three Presidential Distinguished Service Awards and the highest civilian honors from the Pentagon and the United States intelligence community. He has a doctorate in international relations from the University of Oxford, where he studied as Marshall Scholar.
In his 2019 book “The Back Channel: A Memoir of American Diplomacy and the Case for Your Renewal,” Burns called for a reformulation of American diplomacy, while recalling his days in the field, including helping to lead the early stages of the Obama administration. Iran in 2013.
The CIA position is not expected to be a cabinet-level position under Biden. The CIA ceased to be a cabinet-level position during the George W. Bush administration. That’s because in 2005, after 9/11, the Office of the National Director of Intelligence was created to oversee and improve cooperation between all agencies within the United States intelligence community. The director of national intelligence, not the director of the CIA, was in the cabinet.
Trump has elevated the position of CIA director back to a cabinet-level position, and both Haspel and Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe sit in his office.
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Associated Press writer Deb Riechmann contributed to this report.