US President Joe Biden formally nominated former deputy secretary of state William Burns as new director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the White House stated on Wednesday.
The White House announced nominations, including Burns', which Biden administration sent to the Senate on Wednesday for confirmation.
If confirmed by the Senate, Burns would succeed Gina Haspel, who was nominated by former President Donald Trump to lead the CIA in 2018, resigning from the post on January 19 this year.
Burns is currently president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
He has been vocal in his belief that American diplomacy has been damaged in the Trump administration.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described him as a “steady hand” and a “very effective firefighter.”
Burns has spent 32 years at the State Department, where he was the American ambassador to Moscow and Jordan, and in high-level leadership positions in Washington.
Moreover, he has been a trusted diplomat in Republican and Democratic administrations, in addition to playing a vital role in the agency’s most prominent, and painful, moments over the past two decades.
In 2002, he wrote a memo, titled “The Perfect Storm,” which highlighted the dangers of American intervention in Iraq.
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