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Burns, 64, a former ambassador to Russia and Jordan, served in the State Department for 33 years under both Republican and Democratic presidents. He rose to the post of Assistant Secretary of State and resigned in 2014 to head the Center for Strategic Studies at the Carnegie Endowment of International Peace (CEIP).
After Donald Trump came to power in 2017 and turmoil began at the State Department, Burns was silent for a long time, but last year he began writing extremely critical articles on the Trump administration’s policies for publications such as Foreign Affairs.
Burns and Biden, the candidate for National Director of Intelligence Avril Haines, will have the difficult task of restoring the reputation of the American intelligence community, which was heavily politicized during the Trump administration.
W. Burns, the current director of CEIP, one of Washington’s leading centers for strategic studies, will be the first prominent CIA diplomat.
Presidents typically selected military or intelligence veterans to lead the largest and best-funded US intelligence unit.
However, Burns, who has spent more than three decades in the US Foreign Service and served as the US Ambassador to Russia in 2005-2008, has extensive experience working on security and intelligence issues.
“Burns is an exemplary diplomat with decades [darbo] on the world stage because of the security experience of our people and our country, ”said Biden. – He, like me, firmly believes that intelligence should be apolitical and that intelligence professionals dedicated to serving our country deserve our gratitude and respect. Ambassador Burns will bring the knowledge, intelligence and perspectives we need to prevent threats and confront them before they reach our country. The American people, like our other CIA director, will sleep in peace with him. “
Reuters / Photo by Scanpix / Joe Biden at a press conference
Burns was rumored to be one of Biden’s secretaries of state, but the president-elect chose Anthony Blinken to the position.
Burns has received three presidential medals for good service, the highest civilian Pentagon award, and the United States intelligence awards. He has a Ph.D. in international relations from Oxford University, where he studied on a Marshall Fellowship.
Politicized intelligence
Burns will replace Gina Haspel, a veteran of the agency who became the first head of the CIA after Trump appointed Mike Pompeo as secretary of state.
One of Trump’s most trusted advisers, Pompeo, who had high political ambitions during his leadership at the CIA, was accused of appeasing the president’s whims and manipulating intelligence to achieve Trump’s political goals.
Haspel, the CIA chief since 2018, has been more restrained and disciplined, according to intelligence experts, and in the final months of Trump’s presidency, his discontent emerged after the president rejected intelligence findings that Russia was interfering in the presidential election to help him win.
“Scanpix” / “Sipa USA” nuotr./Gina Haspel
However, during his long service with the CIA, Hasel has also been involved in the torture of suspected Al Qaeda fighters following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, an illegal activity that has seriously damaged the reputation of the CIA. although Trump justified it.
Mr. Burns and Mr. Haines, who have earned a lot of respect and have held high positions not only in the Democratic but also in the Republican presidential administration, should be able to gain Senate approval without difficulty.
During his 33 years of service in the diplomatic corps, W. Burns was scattered throughout the world, distinguishing himself not only in Russia but also in the Middle East.
He played a key role in the administration behind the scenes of former President Barack Obama over a 2015 treaty restricting Iran’s nuclear ambitions, from which Trump, supported by Pompeo but not US intelligence, unilaterally withdrew in 2018.
Burns called on Washington to maintain its leadership and multilateralism at a time when Trump was radically changing US policy, withdrawing from treaties, mocking allies and adopting a “America first” position.
“If Donald Trump were re-elected president for a second four-year term, American democracy would go straight to the intensive care unit,” Burns said in an online conference last month.
After Trump’s “changeable” and “volatile” policies, Biden will take on “the most difficult legacy the new president has received since Franklin Delan Roosevelt, at the height of the Great Depression 90 years ago,” he said.
The United States faces the biggest geopolitical challenge: “managing intense long-term competition with China,” Burns warned.
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