Who Is Avril Haines, Joe Biden's DNI Nominee

On Monday, US President-elect Joe Biden made history once again after he nominated Avril Haines as the next director of national intelligence (DNI).

If confirmed, Haines will replace President Donald Trump’s Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, and would be the first woman to hold the position.

Biden announced Haines’ nomination along with the nomination or appointment of several other senior officials, including former Secretary of State John Kerry as special presidential envoy for climate, and Antony Blinken as secretary of state.

Who is Avril Haines?

Haines had worked with Biden under former US President Barack Obama and led the Biden transition's national security and foreign policy team.

Under Obama, she served as an assistant to the president and principal deputy national security advisor from 2015-2017.

Haines also served as deputy director of the CIA from 2013 to 2015. She was the first woman to serve both positions.

She had also served as the National Security Council legal advisor in 2010 and deputy chief counsel to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2007 to 2008.

Haines worked with Biden for more than a decade and has led his transition’s national security and foreign policy team since June 2020, Biden’s transition team said in a release.

She also served in various academic roles, including as a senior fellow at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, a senior research scholar at Columbia University, as well as a member of the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service.