Avril Haines confirmed as director of national intelligence


The Senate on Wednesday evening voted 84-10 to confirm Avril Haines as director of national intelligence.
Haines is the first woman to serve as head of the intelligence community, and is also the first member of President Biden's Cabinet to receive Senate confirmation. She served as deputy national security adviser and deputy CIA director in the Obama administration.
During her confirmation hearing on Tuesday, Haines said "when it comes to intelligence, there is simply no place for politics, ever." After Biden announced in November that he wanted Haines to serve as director of national intelligence, Haines declared she would "speak truth to power" and knew Biden valued "the perspective of the intelligence community."
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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