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William J. Burns, the head of the Central Intelligence Agency and veteran diplomat, was tapped last week by President Joe Biden to join his Cabinet in what was seen as a largely symbolic move—but said the agency has been providing “a clear-eyed, long-term approach to our nation’s top national security challenges.”
“Bill has always given me clear, straightforward analysis that prioritizes the safety and security of the American people, reflecting the integral role the C.I.A. plays in our national security decision-making at this critical time,” Biden said in a statement.
The move comes at a pivotal time in the Ukraine War and simmering tensions between the U.S. and China. Burns, who has spent three decades in Washington, is a club insider with no discernable achievements despite trips to Moscow before and after the conflict began. Since the war began—at least publicly—intelligence agencies have worked to mislead the public on Ukraine’s chances in the conflict.
TRENDPOST: The Trends Journal reported that Burns, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Russia, penned a memo in 2008 that warned the George W. Bush administration about the risks of NATO expansion. He said Russia sees Ukraine’s NATO membership as an existential threat that it will not accept and his memo’s title was, “Nyet Means Nyet.”
The cable was from Burns to then-Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. (See “U.S. ANNOUNCES $300 MILLION IN MORE WEAPONS TO KEEP BLOODYING THE UKRAINE KILLING FIELDS” 6 Jun 2023, “LAVROV CALLS OUT BULLSHIT BLINKEN’S HYPOCRISY” 7 Mar 2023, and “WWIII: VICTORIA ‘F-CK THE EU’ NULAND ADMITS THAT THE U.S. HAS BEEN HELPING UKRAINE PLAN FOR COUNTEROFFENSIVE” 30 May 2023.)
Burns mentioned the famous Bucharest Summit’s Membership Action Plan that said the alliance’s door will remain open to all European democracies that are willing and able “to assume the responsibilities and obligations of membership.”
“We reiterate that decisions on enlargement are for NATO itself to make. […] NATO welcomes Ukraine’s and Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership in NATO,” the plan stated.
Burns wrote that Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, and other senior officials “have reiterated strong opposition, stressing that Russia would review further eastward expansion as a potential military threat.”
“Lavrov emphasized that Russia was convinced that enlargement was not based on security reasons, but was a legacy of the Cold War,” Lavrov said.
Burns wrote, “While Russian opposition to the first round of NATO enlargement in the mid-1990’s was strong, Russia now feels itself able to respond more forcefully to what it perceives as actions contrary to its national interests.”
Largely Symbolic
Burns will join Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines in Biden’s Cabinet. The CIA head has been a Cabinet post but was consolidated in 2005 after 9/11. The New York Times reported that President Donald Trump, in 2017, placed both heads of the CIA and DNI in his Cabinet.