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You are here: Home / Politics / Politicans / President Biden / William Burns To CIA Director

William Burns To CIA Director

by Cheryl Rofer|  January 11, 202112:19 pm| 47 Comments

This post is in: President Biden, Rofer on International Relations

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President-elect Joe Biden’s nomination of William Burns to be director of the CIA is an inspired choice.

Burns is the most senior and most respected diplomat in the US today. He is currently president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, one of the think tanks to which experts go when they are out of government. It’s also the sponsor of the Carnegie Conference on Nuclear Policy, which I’ve attended for the past decade or so, also known as #nukefest. It’s THE gathering for experts on international nuclear issues. The next one will be virtual, in June.

Burns has been ambassador to Jordan and to Russia and has held a number of high posts in the State Department. He and Jake Sullivan (who is to be Biden’s National Security Advisor) laid the groundwork for the JCPOA agreement with Iran.

Why CIA? Many people expected Biden to name him as Secretary of State, but Antony Blinken will serve there. The head of the CIA is usually chosen from within the organization.

Gina Haspel is currently the director of the CIA. She is one of the few Trump appointees who actually has a background in and commitment to her agency. But she also was chief of a black site in Thailand during the Bush 43 administration. It’s time to repudiate the role of torture in intelligence gathering.

Diplomats are not strangers to the world of intelligence. Every embassy abroad includes CIA employees along with those from the State Department, the Russian embassy more than most. The State Department uses intelligence generated by the CIA, its internal agency, and other government intelligence agencies.

Burns is one of the best analysts of foreign affairs the country has. Here’s what he had to say about Russia in 2017. He’s also written a series of articles for The Atlantic.

We can read a number of messages into Burns’s nomination:

  • Competence is back (This is a general message across Biden’s nominations)
  • No more torture
  • Tilt toward State Department as maker and executor of foreign policy
  • Russia, we’ve got your number
  • Allies, you can begin to trust our intelligence services again.

Photo: The Guardian

Cross-posted to Nuclear Diner

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Reader Interactions

47Comments

  1. 1.

    Brachiator

    January 11, 2021 at 12:25 pm

    Burns has been ambassador to Jordan and to Russia and has held a number of high posts in the State Department. He and Jake Sullivan (who is to be Biden’s National Security Advisor) laid the groundwork for the JCPOA agreement with Iran.

    Thanks for the background on Burns. That he was involved in the Iran deal is certain to attract GOP opposition.

  2. 2.

    Ken

    January 11, 2021 at 12:33 pm

    Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, one of the think tanks to which experts go when they are out of government.

    Psychic flash: None of Trump’s hires will end up there, unless as a cafeteria worker.  Besides, they were probably all angling for a slot on Fox, or a position as a Parler influencer.

  3. 3.

    cain

    January 11, 2021 at 12:36 pm

    How’s all this hopey, changey thing working out for ya?!

    It’s working out pretty damn good!

  4. 4.

    sdhays

    January 11, 2021 at 12:40 pm

    @Ken: I wouldn’t want to eat at the cafeteria if that’s the quality of people they hire

    ETA: Burns looks like an absolutely fantastic choice.

  5. 5.

    Benw

    January 11, 2021 at 12:47 pm

    He sounds cool and all but that ‘stache has to go

  6. 6.

    Brachiator

    January 11, 2021 at 12:48 pm

    @Ken:

    Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, one of the think tanks to which experts go when they are out of government.

    Psychic flash: None of Trump’s hires will end up there, unless as a cafeteria worker.  Besides, they were probably all angling for a slot on Fox, or a position as a Parler influencer.

    Of course, no real experts in the Trump administration.

     

  7. 7.

    JeanneT

    January 11, 2021 at 12:52 pm

    This is encouraging – he sounds like a person who knows that accurate information leads to better decision making.

  8. 8.

    Spanky

    January 11, 2021 at 12:54 pm

    His nomination is … exxxxcellent.

  9. 9.

    Ken

    January 11, 2021 at 12:56 pm

    @Benw: Flashback to around 4 years ago, when some here were minimally happy at the report that Trump had nixed Bolton because he didn’t like the man’s stache.  In retrospect, we should have realized that he’d just find someone worse.

    What ever happened with Bolton’s book, anyway?

  10. 10.

    Emma from FL

    January 11, 2021 at 1:01 pm

    I was very pleased to hear about this appointments. Actually I have been happy with all the appointments so far. Competent and experience people across the board. Feels damn good.

  11. 11.

    Brachiator

    January 11, 2021 at 1:01 pm

    @Ken:

    What ever happened with Bolton’s book, anyway?

    A lot of books on the Trump administration are probably going through some serious revisions.

  12. 12.

    Chyron HR

    January 11, 2021 at 1:03 pm

    What about Krystal Ball?  Doesn’t she deserve a cabinet post for not tweeting “Biden is a senile rapist” more often than she already did?

  13. 13.

    Just Chuck

    January 11, 2021 at 1:04 pm

    I know it was T’s sole criteria for appointments, but that guy looks like he stepped out of central casting for the position of CIA Director.  Partly due to the pondering expression.

  14. 14.

    Bill in Section 147

    January 11, 2021 at 1:08 pm

    It will take a while to decompress but I am looking forward to the day when I can read about something the government is up to and consider whether or not it is good policy.

  15. 15.

    Geminid

    January 11, 2021 at 1:09 pm

    @Benw: The mustache does seem odd today. It’s the Dean Acheson look. But Angus King has one, and I think Mark Kelly still has his.

  16. 16.

    Ken

    January 11, 2021 at 1:11 pm

    @Brachiator: Ah, yes, hadn’t thought of that.  I imagine the phrase “I was not in the room at the time and only found out about the decision later…” is being added on nearly every page.

  17. 17.

    jonas

    January 11, 2021 at 1:12 pm

    @Brachiator:That he was involved in the Iran deal is certain to attract GOP opposition.

    Hopefully Democrats will respond with a lot of Nelson-style “haw-haw”s. Under the brilliant GOP/Trump plan to contain Iran via belligerent idiocy, Iran’s centrifuges are now happily whirling away producing 20% enriched uranium. Heckuva job, guys.

  18. 18.

    Ken

    January 11, 2021 at 1:12 pm

    @Geminid: I had a mustache like that once, but for me it was the “too much trouble to shave the upper lip” look.

  19. 19.

    Ken

    January 11, 2021 at 1:15 pm

    @jonas: After the Iranians indicted Trump a couple of weeks ago, someone suggested in the BJ comments that we extradite him in exchange for a resumption of the treaty and inspections.  Sounds even better this week.

  20. 20.

    stinger

    January 11, 2021 at 1:15 pm

    No. More. Torture.

    I’d give up all else Burns brings to the position just for this.

  21. 21.

    Josie

    January 11, 2021 at 1:20 pm

    I like mustaches, but then I am an old, so what do I know?

  22. 22.

    Another Scott

    January 11, 2021 at 1:23 pm

    I find this bit interesting:

    Ambassador Burns speaks Russian, Arabic, and French, and he has been the recipient of three Presidential Distinguished Service Awards and a number of Department of State awards, including three Secretary’s Distinguished Service Awards, two Distinguished Honor Awards, the 2006 Charles E. Cobb, Jr. Ambassadorial Award for Initiative and Success in Trade Development, the 2005 Robert C. Frasure Memorial Award for Conflict Resolution and Peacemaking, and the James Clement Dunn Award for exemplary performance at the mid-career level. He has also received the highest civilian honors from the Department of Defense and the U.S. intelligence community. In 2013, Foreign Policy named him “Diplomat of the Year”.

    (Emphasis added.)

    I haven’t found the citations of why he received those awards, but it’s a big deal. And shows (I think) that his expertise is not just in the rarified niceties of diplomacy (if there is such a thing).

    The link has a ~ 75 minute interview with him.

    Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  23. 23.

    guachi

    January 11, 2021 at 1:24 pm

    Burns seems like an excellent choice. It’s clear Biden takes government seriously with his nominees.

  24. 24.

    Ken

    January 11, 2021 at 1:27 pm

    @Another Scott: A disappointing lack of experience in setting up a website to sell his branded merchandise, and absolutely no appearances on “Dancing with the Stars.”  Biden’s already scraping the bottom of the barrel.

    (I hope sarcasm tags aren’t necessary.)

  25. 25.

    Feathers

    January 11, 2021 at 1:30 pm

    One of the details I remember in the run up to the Iraq War is that the State Department Intelligence Office (unsure if this is correct name), which was made up of long time employees who had served overseas and were now back in Washington who made reports from publicly available sources, invariably offered more accurate information than those from the intelligence services and their clandestine sources. Makes sense to me. Good choice.

  26. 26.

    zhena gogolia

    January 11, 2021 at 1:33 pm

    I’m so glad to hear you think this is a good pick.

  27. 27.

    trollhattan

    January 11, 2021 at 1:37 pm

    Actions/inactions=consequences.

    Orange County Register: “Voter registration data in Orange County, the one Southern California county that tracks registration numbers daily, shows the Republican party lost eight times more voters than it gained after the violence in D.C., with 600 GOP voters lost from Wednesday to Friday. That followed a month in which the party had been gaining ground among O.C. voters.”

  28. 28.

    Brachiator

    January 11, 2021 at 1:42 pm

    @Another Scott:

    He has also received the highest civilian honors from the Department of Defense and the U.S. intelligence community. In 2013, Foreign Policy named him “Diplomat of the Year”.

    What the hell is Biden doing appointing someone with experience and gravitas?

    Interesting stuff. Thanks for the info.

  29. 29.

    trollhattan

    January 11, 2021 at 1:44 pm

    @Brachiator:

    This aggression will not stand, man!

  30. 30.

    Cheryl Rofer

    January 11, 2021 at 1:51 pm

    @Feathers: The State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) is one of the best in the business. Along with DOE’s intelligence and I think one other agency that I’m spacing out now, they got it right on Saddam Hussein’s aluminum tubes – not for centrifuges.

  31. 31.

    VOR

    January 11, 2021 at 1:58 pm

    Yeah, but does he have a regular gig on “Fox and Friends”?

  32. 32.

    J R in WV

    January 11, 2021 at 2:06 pm

    My dad was into a mustache, at one point he had a really great handlebar type thing going, which attracted a lot of attention, as facial hair wasn’t common at the time.

    This appointment seems great, thanks, Cheryl, for the background information~!!~

  33. 33.

    WaterGirl

    January 11, 2021 at 2:07 pm

    @trollhattan: They just don’t want to be “called” Republican.  Likely more so-called Independents who aren’t independent at all, but are embarrassed to say they are Republican.

    Maybe a few of them are horrified, and I’ll take anyone who is horrified at this point.

  34. 34.

    Calouste

    January 11, 2021 at 2:10 pm

    @trollhattan: Still, that leaves 75 voters in Orange County who were motivated by the Beer Belly Putsch to update their voter registration to (R).

  35. 35.

    NotMax

    January 11, 2021 at 2:36 pm

    @Ken

    The C.I.A. cafeteria:

    “What’s on the menu today? Any specials?”

    “Sorry, that’s strictly on a need to know basis.”

    :)

  36. 36.

    sab

    January 11, 2021 at 2:40 pm

    @guachi: This is so heartening. Biden just doesn’t take government seriously; he knows who is experienced and good.

  37. 37.

    Jay C

    January 11, 2021 at 2:54 pm

    @jonas:

    Only an Amateur Forign Policy Analyst here, but unfortunately, I have a suspicion that President Biden and his entire Administration are going to find Iran policy a harder thing to shift than might be hoped. For several reasons:

    1. The Trump Administration has pretty much committed the US to backing a Saudi/Israeli/Saudi-client bloc (an under-the-table alliance in large part, but still there) whose principal aim is to curtail/block/destroy Iranian influence in the ME. It’s been well-smokescreened (as the “Abraham Accords”) as a mainly diplomatic “breakthough for peace”, but it’s still mainly an anti-Iran alliance, and it may not be as easy to circumvent as we’d like.
    2.  There is a vigorously anti-Iranian bloc in domestic politics, as well: a large segment of the political Right have invested a great deal over the years in maintaining Iran as the Designated Evil Boogeyman of world politics, and painting every and any attempt to shift that policy as a Heinous Betrayal Of Right And Good. And taken every setback (e.g., the ROW’s lack of interest in financial sanctions) as a sign that the Boogeyman Policy has to be correct…
    3.  The “Israel-First Lobby” (which of course, isn’t admitted to exist) will not be happy with a thaw in US-Iran relations: and will likely make their displeasure well-publicized.                                                                                                              However, on the (I hope) positive side, the US may give up on its policy of pushing the MEK as a viable “alternative government” for Iran….
  38. 38.

    Jay C

    January 11, 2021 at 2:58 pm

    @Jay C:

    ADD: I still think Burns is a good choice for CIA, and what I’ve seen of Biden’s picks for National Security and diplomatic slots leads me to be impressed at his priorities, i.e. intelligence, experience and competence.

  39. 39.

    WaterGirl

    January 11, 2021 at 3:06 pm

    Very happy to hear your take on this nomination, Cheryl.

  40. 40.

    ewrunning

    January 11, 2021 at 3:25 pm

    A superb choice. Also, like UN ambassador nominee Linda Thomas-Greenfield, a member of my Foreign Service entering class in 1982. They are two of the finest people you could ever meet.

  41. 41.

    Topclimber

    January 11, 2021 at 3:35 pm

    I know I am dreaming but perhaps Biden could send an early message by moving our embassy back to Tel Aviv based on Bibi’s pre-inauguration provocation of yet more settlements.

    As I recall, the exception to Congressional approval for moving the embassy to Jerusalem was security issues. Provoking the Palestinians yet again and with arrogant disdain for what a new US President wants sure fits that bill.

  42. 42.

    NotMax

    January 11, 2021 at 3:37 pm

    @Topclimber

    Adelson purchased that property.

  43. 43.

    ewrunning

    January 11, 2021 at 3:42 pm

    @NotMax: That Adelson purchase of the Ambassdor’s residence (not the former chancery, i.e., Embassy office building) stinks to high heaven! Talk about a quid pro quo! GAO, IG and Congressional investigations are clearly in order.

  44. 44.

    Topclimber

    January 11, 2021 at 3:42 pm

    @NotMax: But USA is the tenant. Does he have an irrevocable lease. In other words, so what?

    Perhaps you mean the Tel Aviv embassy. Again, so what. My wild guess is that Tel Aviv has many secure buildings. Make the announcement and call a real estate broker.

  45. 45.

    Subsole

    January 11, 2021 at 3:56 pm

    @Benw: 
    You would prefer Monsieur Bolton’s, perhaps?

  46. 46.

    Subsole

    January 11, 2021 at 3:58 pm

    @Chyron HR: She can be secretary of fucking off to the attic without pay for the next 4 years…

  47. 47.

    YY_Sima Qian

    January 12, 2021 at 4:36 am

    Dead thread, but I have been pretty gratified by Biden’s choices for his diplomatic and national security team, other than SecDef going to a general. They are invariably experienced and level headed, and generally not given to ideological orthodoxy. Gives me hope that at least the US side will not intentionally land in the Thucydides Trap with China during the course of the great power competition. After all, the Sino-US relationship remains the most consequential one in the world, today and into the future. The competition part is unavoidable, even natural. Unbounded and destructive competition, on the other hand, would be ruinous to all involved.

    In the waning days of the Trump Presidency, Mike Pompeo has been busy laying landmines for the Biden team in the China relationship: placing Chinese state owned and private enterprises on the Entities List left and right or sanction, on the thinnest pretenses; removing all State Department restrictions in terms of interactions with Republic of China (Taiwan), despite at least lip service to the “One China” principle being the foundation for the Sino-US normalization since 1972; sending the Ambassador to the UN (wife of Craft the coal magnate, utterly unqualified for the position) to Taiwan for a visit. His hope clearly is to handcuff the Biden team to the rapidly downward spiraling Sino-US relationship, to lock in a Cold War 2.0. Should the Biden team to remove some of the landmines, he can then use it as a cudgel to hit Biden and the Democrats for being “soft of on China”, ideally (so he thinks) for a 20214 Presidential run. Similar landmines are being laid in relation to Iran, and I am sure other policy areas.

    Ironically, media in Taiwan is suspecting that the main purpose of Kelly Craft’s visit is to pressure Taiwan into purchasing US coal. (After all, by decommissioning its nuclear power plants, Taiwan will have to increase its dependence on coal fire power. Furthermore, the US became Taiwan’s #1 source for oil in 2020, despite Middle Eastern oil being cheaper; few other countries count the US as #1 source for oil.) Sec HHS Alex Azar visited Taiwan in December, ostensibly to laud Taiwan’s achievements in managing COVID-19, but the main outcome seems to have been pressuring its government to allow import of US pork laced with ractopamine.

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