Veteran US diplomat William Burns, who was recently nominated by president Joe Biden to lead the CIA, on Wednesday pledged to keep the agency free of politics while maintaining that China would be his main focus should he get the nod.
Burns was picked by to replace retiring Central Intelligence Agency Director Gina Haspel and with a major mandate to restore an air of independence after former president Donald Trump allegedly tried to manipulate the country’s spies for political reasons.
Speaking on Wednesday, Burns the Senate Intelligence Committee that his career in the Middle East and Russia made him appreciate the value of untainted intelligence.
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‘I learned that good intelligence, delivered with honesty and integrity, is America’s first line of defense,’ he told the panel.
‘I learned that intelligence professionals have to tell policymakers what they need to hear, even if they don’t want to hear it. And I learned that politics must stop where intelligence work begins.’
Speaking further Burns also told the panel that China was the main challenge the country faces, echoing views stated by Biden and other top officials of his administration.
The CIA in particular has faced challenges, with China having recruited a number of US diplomats and spies over to its side in recent years and also, starting a decade ago, bringing down the CIA’s own network of informants in the country.
Burns called Xi Jinping’s approach an ‘aggressive, undisguised ambition and assertiveness’ that must be faced down in a long-term effort, in conjunction with allies that Beijing lacks.
‘This is not like the competition with the Soviet Union in the Cold War, which was primarily in security and ideological terms,’ Burns told the committee.
‘This is an adversary that is extraordinarily ambitious in technology and capable in economic terms as well.’
‘Out-competing China will be key to our national security in the decades ahead. That will require a long-term, clear-eyed, bipartisan strategy, underpinned by domestic renewal and solid intelligence,‘ he submitted.
Iran nuclear talks
Burns was instrumental in 2013 — when Biden was vice president — in launching the secret negotiations with Tehran that led to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2018, and Biden last week opened the door to new negotiations.
Burns reiterated that Tehran cannot be trusted with nuclear arms.
Biden Would be hoping that the Senate ractifies his nominations soon enough.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
