William Burns, a former state department employee and war veteran was nominated for CIA Director by President Biden. If confirmed by the Senate, he will be the first director whose experience throughout life has been from the State Department. Burns worked in foreign service for 33 years, retiring in 2014. He is currently president of the Carnegie Endowment for National Peace, a think tank known and respected worldwide.
Burns has been critical of former President Trump for his failure to calmly accept election defeat, and even predicted this rough exchange of power last August. “Like so many other features of the Trump era, the transition would bear little resemblance to any before, or any of the many I served through as a career diplomat. The costs of confusion, mixed signals, and bureaucratic turmoil could be very high.”
Burns has similar beliefs as President Biden about how “intelligence must be apolitical,” which Biden believes is important to serving the nation. Burns appealed to Biden because he seemed capable of restoring trust in the CIA after Trump’s presidency. Burns also has expertise with Russia, which is needed after the Trump era. Burns also served as deputy secretary of state in the Obama Administration, and has worked under 5 American presidents from both parties.
Burns’ nomination was handed to him, as his other contenders had previously agreed with the use of torture programs, which was deemed unacceptable by Democrats on the Senate Intelligence committee.