In January 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Burns to become CIA director.[7] He was unanimously confirmed by voice vote in the Senate on March 18, 2021, sworn in officially as director on March 19,[3] as well as ceremonially sworn in by Vice President Kamala Harris on March 23.[8][9] In July 2023, Biden elevated Burns to a position in his cabinet, a largely symbolic action.[10]
In 2008, Burns wrote to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice: "Ukrainian entry into NATO is the brightest of all redlines for the Russian elite (not just Putin). In more than two and a half years of conversations with key Russian players, from knuckle-draggers in the dark recesses of the Kremlin to Putin's sharpest liberal critics, I have yet to find anyone who views Ukraine in NATO as anything other than a direct challenge to Russian interests."[17]
A leaked diplomatic cable that Burns signed as ambassador to Russia in August 2006 provided a detailed eyewitness account of the lavish wedding organized in Makhachkala by Russian State Duma member and Dagestan Oil Company chief Gadzhi Makhachev for his son. The wedding lasted for two days; its attendees included Chechnya's Ramzan Kadyrov. An FSB colonel sitting next to the cable's authors tried to add "cognac" to their wine until an FSB general told him to stop.[18][19] In 2015, Burns told Gideon Rachman of the Financial Times that the cable had been "largely written by his colleagues," with Rachman remarking that the telegram had gained a reputation of "a minor classic of comic writing, its tone very much not what one might expect of a diplomatic cable."[20] In June 2013, Andrew Kuchins remarked about Burns's stint in Moscow, "It was a period when the relationship was deteriorating very significantly, but he was personally respected by Russian authorities as a consummate professional diplomat."[21]
In 2013, Burns and Jake Sullivan led the secret bilateral channel with Iran that led to the interim agreement between Iran and the P5+1 and ultimately the Iran nuclear deal.[22][23] Burns was reported to be "in the driver's seat" of the American negotiating team for the interim agreement. Burns had met secretly with Iranian officials as early as 2008, when President George W. Bush dispatched him to do so.[24]
In a piece published in The Atlantic in April 2013, Nicholas Kralev praised him as the "secret diplomatic weapon" deployed against "some of the thorniest foreign policy challenges of the US."[25]
In November 2020, as Burns's name was being cited by press as one of several possible candidates to be nominated by Joe Biden for secretary of state, Russia's broadsheet Kommersant stated that its sources "in the state structures" of the Russian Federation agreed that his candidacy would "be the most advantageous for Moscow of all the five cited" in the media.[26]
Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
On January 11, 2021, Joe Biden announced he planned to nominate Burns as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, saying Burns shared his belief "that intelligence must be apolitical and that the dedicated intelligence professionals serving our nation deserve our gratitude and respect."[27][28]
On February 24, his nomination was well-received in the confirmation hearing in the Senate.[29] On March 2, the Senate Intelligence Committee unanimously approved Burns's nomination, setting him up for a final floor vote.[30] On March 18, Burns was confirmed to the role with unanimous consent after SenatorTed Cruz (R-TX) lifted his hold on the nomination.[31] He was officially sworn in as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency on March 19.[3][8]
In his confirmation hearing before the Senate, Burns said, "an adversarial, predatory Chinese leadership poses our biggest geopolitical test".[32] He said China was working to "methodically strengthen its capabilities to steal intellectual property, repress its own people, bully its neighbors, expand its global reach and build influence in American society."[33]
In April 2021, Biden announced his intention to withdraw all regular U.S. troops from Afghanistan by September 2021. Burns told the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee on April 14, 2021, that "[t]here is a significant risk once the U.S. military and the coalition militaries withdraw" but added that the U.S. would retain "a suite of capabilities."[34] On August 23, 2021, Burns held a secret meeting in Kabul with Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar, who returned to Afghanistan from exile in Qatar, to discuss the August 31 deadline for a U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan.[35][36]
In early November 2021, Burns flew to Moscow, notifying Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Putin's security council, that the United States believed Putin was considering a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Burns warned that if Putin were to invade Ukraine, the West would respond in a way that would have severe consequences for Russia.[37] John Sullivan, at the time the American ambassador to Russia, recounted that Patrushev was undeterred by Burns's warnings. Upon his return to Washington, Burns informed Biden that Putin had all but made up his mind to take over Ukraine and that the Russians had absolute confidence victory would come swiftly.[38]
On March 31, 2022, Burns tested positive for COVID-19, a day after meeting with President Biden during a socially distanced meeting at the White House.[39]
In May 2023, Burns made a secret visit to China to ease tensions with the country.[43]
After the beginning of the war between Hamas and Israel, Burns pushed for a deal with Hamas to secure the release of Israeli hostages.[44]
Publications
Books
His memoir, The Back Channel: A Memoir of American Diplomacy and the Case for Its Renewal, was published by Random House in 2019. It was published in conjunction with an archive of nearly 100 declassified diplomatic cables.[45] International relations scholars who reviewed the book were mostly positive.[46][47][48]
Burns holds four honorary doctoral degrees and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[15] He is also an honorary Fellow, St. John's College, Oxford, (from 2012).[57]
Burns is married to Lisa Carty, a former diplomat and current UN OCHA senior official,[64] and has two daughters. He speaks English, French, Russian, and Arabic.[65]
^Matishak, Martin, "Senate Intel unanimously approves Burns to be CIA director: Timing for the final confirmation vote remains unclear" (March 2, 2021). Politico. www.google.com/amp/s/www.politico.com/amp/news/2021/03/02/senate-approves-burns-cia-472685. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
^Schwirtz, Michael; Troianovski, Anton; Al-Hlou, Yousur; Froliak, Masha; Entous, Adam; Gibbons-Neff, Thomas (December 17, 2022). "Putin's War: The Inside Story of a Catastrophe". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 17, 2022.
^Khadeeja, Safdar; Benoit, David (April 30, 2023). "Epstein's Private Calendar Reveals Prominent Names, Including CIA Chief, Goldman's Top Lawyer". Wall Street Journal. William Burns, director of the Central Intelligence Agency since 2021, had three meetings scheduled with Epstein in 2014, when he was deputy secretary of state, the documents show. They first met in Washington and then Mr. Burns visited Epstein's townhouse in Manhattan. [...] Mr. Burns, 67 years old, a career diplomat and former ambassador to Russia, had meetings with Epstein in 2014 when Mr. Burns was deputy secretary of state. A lunch was planned that August at the office of law firm Steptoe & Johnson in Washington. Epstein scheduled two evening appointments that September with Mr. Burns at his townhouse, the documents show. After one of the scheduled meetings, Epstein planned for his driver to take Mr. Burns to the airport.