Eli Lake, Columnist

Biden’s Nominee for CIA Director Is All About Iran

William Burns had a central role in negotiating the landmark nuclear deal.

January 20, 2021 at 1:00 AM UTC

Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.

Future spy chief?
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U.S. presidents have called upon CIA directors to destabilize regimes, hunt down terrorists and steal the secrets of adversaries. One often overlooked job for American spy leaders, though, has been as a secret channel, or a quiet diplomat.

This is the most interesting aspect of President-elect Joe Biden’s choice to lead the CIA, William Burns. As one of the most respected diplomats of his generation (every living secretary of state recorded a message of congratulations for him at his retirement ceremony in 2014), Burns is well positioned to be the first member of the Foreign Service to lead the CIA.