Migrants, Refugees, and Societies
Publication: World Development Report 2023: Migrants, Refugees, and Societies
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Biden names CIA Director William Burns to his cabinet
BY?LAURA KELLY - 07/21/23
President Biden announced on Friday that he is adding CIA Director William Burns to serve as a member of his cabinet, elevating further an official he has dispatched on face-to-face missions in Russia and China to confront America’s most pressing national security issues.
It’s rare for the CIA director to be given a seat in the cabinet – an advisory body that includes the major federal agencies but can be expanded to include other senior U.S. officials that the president views as leading on key priority issues.
“Bill has always given me clear, straightforward analysis that prioritizes the safety and security of the American people, reflecting the integral role the CIA plays in our national security decision-making at this critical time,” Biden said in a statement.??
“With quiet courage, deep humility, and extensive expertise, Bill has earned the respect of the brave women and men of the CIA,” he continued. “He leads with dignity and represents the very best of America, and I look forward to continuing to work with him in the years ahead.”
A White House official called Burns “one of the President’s closest advisors on many of the major national security and foreign policy issues of this administration.”
“The President’s elevation of Director Burns to the Cabinet recognizes the essential contributions to national security the Central Intelligence Agency makes every day,” the official said, noting that CIA directors were also made members of the cabinet during the Clinton administration.?
Burns, a former ambassador to Russia and a veteran diplomat, was sworn in as CIA director in 2021. The president sent Burns to Moscow to talk with Russian President Vladimir Putin in November 2021 to warn him off of launching an invasion into Ukraine.
He was also a key figure in the administration’s strategy to declassify intelligence related to Putin’s troop buildup and plans to launch a full-scale invasion into Ukraine, which was carried out in February 2022. The early warnings were credited with uniting Kyiv’s supporters in coordinated action against the Kremlin.?
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In June, Burns traveled to Beijing and met with his intelligence counterparts in an effort to lay the groundwork for more high-level contacts between the U.S. and China that had been upended over a series of crises and tensions in the relationship.?
“The President’s announcement today recognizes the essential contributions to national security the Central Intelligence Agency makes every day, and reflects his confidence in our work,” Burns said in a statement.
“I am honored to serve in this role, representing the tremendous work of our intelligence officers,” he added. “It is also an honor to serve alongside our exceptional intelligence community colleagues, under the leadership of DNI Avril Haines.”
Haines, also a cabinet member, welcomed Burns’s appointment, saying it “reflects the President’s reliance and confidence in Bill for his unique insights and advice, and I cannot imagine a better colleague, friend, and leader who is more deserving of this recognition.”
Daniel Byman, senior fellow with the Transnational Threats Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies said Burns’s experience as a former ambassador to Ukraine, the Middle East and other parts of the world has served as an important source of advice on Biden’s foreign policy.?
He noted that the rarity of CIA directors being appointed to the cabinet “is more a testament to Burns’ incredible effectiveness rather than a broader decision about the role of the CIA in Cabinet.”
Alex Gangitano contributed to this report.?
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William J. Burns, CIA
?The United States is no longer the only big kid on the geopolitical block. Our success will depend on our ability to navigate a world with three distinctive features. First is the challenge of strategic competition from a rising and ambitious China and a declining but disruptive Russia. Second are the problems without passports, like the climate crisis and global pandemics. And third is the revolution in technology. The most immediate and acute geopolitical challenge to international order today is Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It is always a mistake to underestimate Putin's fixation on controlling Ukraine and its choices. Putin’s war has already been a strategic failure for Russia – its military weaknesses laid bare; its economy badly damaged for years to come; its future as a junior partner and economic colony of China being shaped by Putin’s mistakes; its revanchist ambitions blunted by a NATO which has only grown bigger and stronger.
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However, China is the only country with both the intent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to do so. President Xi is embarking on his third term with more power than any Chinese leader since Mao. His dangerous rhetoric and the growing repression at home and his aggressiveness abroad are impossible to ignore. In this new era, our competition is taking place against the backdrop of thick economic interdependence and commercial ties. Decoupling from an economy like China's, would be foolish, but to sensibly de-risk and diversify by securing resilient supply chains, protecting our technological edge, and investing in industrial capacity is necessary. Meanwhile, the weight of the hedging middle is growing -- economically, politically and militarily. These countries see little benefit and lots of risk in monogamous geopolitical relationships. Additionally, the revolution in technology will be more profound than the industrial revolution or the dawn of the nuclear age. Computing related advances are leading to breakthroughs of remarkable scale and scope – outstripping our expectations.
?On intelligence, the US and its allies from Britain, especially the MI6 have provided early and accurate warning of the war that was coming, helped to mobilize and support for Ukraine, and helped Ukraine defend itself and to launch the crucial counter-offensive. The careful declassification of some of secrets, part of a novel and effective strategy, denies Putin’s false narratives. Disaffection with the war will continue and it creates a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the CIA, at its core a human intelligence service. The CIA has reorganized itself and doubled the percentage of overall budget supporting China activities over just the last two years while competing with China, from Latin America to Africa to the Indo-Pacific – despite keeping backchannels. The espionage tradecraft is experiencing the most profound transformation since the Cold War due to new technology but will always need humans to collect secrets. Finally, the CIA’s allies, from the Five Eyes network to other treaty partners across NATO and the Indo- Pacific, are the bedrock of our intelligence diplomacy and no relationship is stronger or more trusting than our alliance with Britain and SIS.?
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