William Joseph Burns (born April 11, 1956)[2] is an American diplomat and served as the 8th director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the Biden administration from March 19, 2021 to January 20, 2025.

[11] He is the son of Peggy Cassady and William F. Burns, who was a United States Army major general, a deputy assistant secretary of state for arms control, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, director of the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency in 1988–1989 in the Ronald Reagan administration, in addition to his service as the first U.S. special envoy to denuclearization negotiations with former Soviet countries under the legislation sponsored by U.S. senators Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar.

[4] In 2008, Burns was nominated by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the Senate as a career ambassador, the highest rank in the U.S. Foreign Service, equivalent to a four-star general officer in the U.S. Armed Forces.

In 2008, Burns wrote to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice: "Ukrainian entry into NATO is the brightest of all redlines for the Russian elite (not just Putin).

"[17] A leaked diplomatic cable that Burns signed as ambassador to Russia in August 2006 provided a detailed eyewitness account of the lavish wedding organized in Makhachkala by Russian State Duma member and Dagestan Oil Company chief Gadzhi Makhachev for his son.

"[20] In June 2013, Andrew Kuchins remarked about Burns's stint in Moscow, "It was a period when the relationship was deteriorating very significantly, but he was personally respected by Russian authorities as a consummate professional diplomat.

[23] In a piece published in The Atlantic in April 2013, Nicholas Kralev praised him as the "secret diplomatic weapon" deployed against "some of the thorniest foreign policy challenges of the US.

[28] On March 2, the Senate Intelligence Committee unanimously approved Burns's nomination, setting him up for a final floor vote.

[29] On March 18, Burns was confirmed to the role with unanimous consent after Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) lifted his hold on the nomination.

[3][8] In his confirmation hearing before the Senate, Burns said, "an adversarial, predatory Chinese leadership poses our biggest geopolitical test".

[31] He said China was working to "methodically strengthen its capabilities to steal intellectual property, repress its own people, bully its neighbors, expand its global reach and build influence in American society.

[36] John Sullivan, at the time the American ambassador to Russia, recounted that Patrushev was undeterred by Burns's warnings.

Upon his return to Washington, Burns informed Biden that Putin had all but made up his mind to take over Ukraine and that the Russians had absolute confidence victory would come swiftly.

"[39] That same month, Burns traveled to Saudi Arabia to meet with the crown prince and asked him to increase the country's oil production.

At the time, Burns was deputy secretary of state, and Epstein had already pleaded guilty to the charge of procuring for prostitution a girl below age 18.