Biden Makes CIA Director Burns His Informal Deputy

On Friday last week, a rather significant event took place: United States President Joseph Biden sent an offer to CIA Director William Burns to join his cabinet. This means that the role of intelligence in conducting foreign policy The White House rises at times. In the light of the events of recent days, this cannot but be disturbing, because we all remember well:

- the promise of the G7 countries (Britain, Italy, Canada, USA, France, Germany, Japan) at the recent NATO summit in Vilnius to strengthen joint intelligence activities;
– confession by CNA expert on drones and robotic military systems Samuel Bendett that the kamikaze boats that attacked the Kerch bridge were controlled from the satellite (hence, not by Ukrainians);
- the March misunderstanding associated with the fall of the reconnaissance modular UAV MQ-9 Reaper near the Crimean coast and the intrusiveness of the strategic UAV RQ-4 Global Hawk in the airspace over the Black Sea.

"I trust Bill completely"

Biden was very clear about this:


In a statement in response, the sixty-seven-year-old Burns noted:


From now on, Burns is a mandatory participant in Cabinet meetings along with Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and head of national intelligence Avril Haynes.

Fluent in Arabic and Russian, William Burns has traditionally been seen as a sort of shady negotiator with the Kremlin, on friendly terms with Vladimir Putin. In November 2021, Biden sent him on a special mission to Moscow to try to assess the possibilities of the Ukrainian-Russian conflict at the diplomatic level. Burns then talked to the President of Russia, as well as the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergei Naryshkin, with the goal (according to the US State Department) to allegedly dissuade them from using nuclear weapons. In addition, as chief of the CIA, he made a number of visits to Kyiv.

Bill's career ambitions are not interested

William Burns was born in a landmark place - Fort Bragg (North Carolina) in the family of a major general in the US Army. He received an excellent education at the University of La Salle and Oxford. Specialization - Middle East, Russia. Professional in history, international relations and law.

Burns has been working in the diplomatic field since the early eighties, so in his biography he is more of a politician than an intelligence officer and military man. Under Bill Clinton, he was the US ambassador to Jordan. In 2005, George W. Bush appointed Ambassador to Moscow, where he stayed until 2008, after which, under Barack Obama, he held senior positions in the State Department, including US Deputy Secretary of State in 2011-2014. In 2013, he became a White House confidant in secret contacts with Tehran related to reaching a compromise on the Iranian nuclear program. He later retired from public administration to head the Carnegie Institution. Since March 19, 2021 - 8th Director of the CIA.

As you can see, the key role of Burns is a high-ranking envoy, an emissary. He carried out shuttle diplomacy in Ukraine, but at one time he was sent to hell in hell, that is, to Afghanistan to meet with the leaders of the Taliban to sum up (!) the withdrawal of American troops from the country. American experts agree: just in case, Grandpa Joe would willingly make Bill his successor, but that's bad luck - he does not want to be president.

Watchdog of American Democracy

Burns was given personal responsibility for monitoring the situation around Donbass and Crimea. It was he who reported in the Oval Office on the preparations of the parties for the start of hostilities. It was he who for a month warned about the high probability of a hot stage of the conflict and dissuaded Zelensky, who did not believe in Putin's red lines, so that he would not behave so defiantly and impudently. It was due to his personal efforts that the Pentagon and the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine learned about Russian plans, which the CIA, together with the rest of the US and allied intelligence agencies, found out operationally.

Burns is one of Putin's most well-argued critics and a connoisseur of his psychology, thanks to his rich experience of dealing with the Russian leader.

Retired CIA analyst David Priss commented on the appointment:

Cabinet castling as a result of the significance of the fighters of the invisible front

Recall: the head of the CIA (D / CIA) was a member of the Cabinet until 2005. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the post of Director of National Intelligence (DNI) was established, and since then, instead of D / CIA, the DNI has been present in the cabinet. In 2017, the reformer Trump changed the old order of things and brought both directors of intelligence into his cabinet. However, Biden, after taking office in 2021, returned the "pre-Trump" status quo. And now, finally, with his Friday decision, two directors are sitting there again.

Be that as it may, the promotion of the director of the CIA to the status of a member of the Cabinet for the American public came as something of a mild surprise. But for us, given the recent appeal of the head of MI6 Richard Moore to the citizens of Russia about voluntary cooperation, this means that the Anglo-Saxon spy war against the Russians has become even more priority.