William Burns gets unanimous support from US Senate for CIA Director post

William Burns, a former diplomat and public servant, received landslide support from the US Senate to confirm his position as the director of the Central Intelligence Agency on Thursday, according to media reports. 

The voting procedure in the Senate saw no opposition from any lawmakers present and made the former deputy secretary of state the new head of America’s intelligence body, reported Reuters. 

The confirmation for the crucial position had been prolonged in the US Senate due to a roadblock installed by Texas Senator, Ted Cruz. The halt on the Senate confirmation was put in place as most members of the Republican party, in the Senate, demanded additional measures from the US President Joe Biden in the issue of Nord Stream 2, a joint project launched by European countries and Russia for sharing natural gas reserves in the region. Multiple Republicans demanded immediate sanctions issued by the authorities to halt the completion of the project.

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However, Cruz praised the statement of Antony Blinken which targetted the pipeline project and reinforced to the idea of a “bicameral, bipartisan, and whole of government commitment in the United States to stopping Putin’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline.”

Following the display of unity in tackling the eastern resource sharing project, Cruz lifted the halt on the confirmation of Burns. 

Burns, who is known to have a diverse range of experience and skillset in public service after serving under five US Presidents including Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, outlined his way of working in his opening statements at his Senate hearings in February by stressing that intelligence shall be free of any political ambitions and motives, which showed a stark difference in the approach of former US President Donald Trump’s pick for the position.

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The 63-year-old has been on a consistent uphill climb since the start of his career in public service in 1982 as a diplomat, went on to serve under 10 different secretaries in a variety of administrations and currently holds the reigns of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, an American think tank focused on researching international affairs and global political order.