Elected president Joe Biden
Joe Biden Outgoing Chief of Capitol Police Accuses House, Senate Security Officials of Obstructing Attempts to Enlist National Guard: WaPo PGA Announces Plans to Move 2022 Championship From Property to Trump Former Democratic Senator: Biden Justice Department May 6 research speakers for incitement MORE Monday announced former Under Secretary of State William Burns as his nominee for director of the CIA.
Biden’s transition team noted that Burns, a career diplomat who retired in 2014 after 33 years in the U.S. Foreign Service, has held a number of national security positions with five Democratic and Republican governments. Burns was the US Ambassador to Russia between 2005 and 2008 and was the US Ambassador to Jordan from 1998 to 2001.
Biden’s team called Burns a “consummate professional full of integrity who will bring the facts and independence that our national security requires.”
“Bill Burns is an exemplary diplomat with decades of experience on the world stage to keep our people and our country safe,” Biden said in a statement.
He shares my deep belief that intelligence should be apolitical and that the dedicated intelligence professionals who serve our nation deserve our gratitude and respect. Ambassador Burns will bring the knowledge, judgment and perspective we need to prevent and address threats. before they can reach our shores., “Biden added.” The American people will sleep well with him as our next CIA director. “
Burns currently chairs the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank.
Burns, a longtime critic of Trump-era foreign policy, wrote an essay for The Atlantic last August that has been recirculated as President Trump
Donald Trump Outgoing Chief of Police of the Capitol Accuses House Senate Security Officials of Obstructing Attempts to Enlist National Guard: WaPo PGA Announces Plans to Move Championship from Trump’s Property to Trump Former Democratic Senator by 2022: Biden Justice Department May 6 Investigate Speakers For Incitement MORE refuses to accept the results of the presidential election.
In the piece, Burns wrote that Trump “would at best … be consumed by attempts to rationalize his defeat and view the election as falsified; in the worst case he will try to dispute or undermine the result. “
–Zack Budryk contributed to this report, which was last updated at 7:12 AM