Avril Haines | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2021 | |
| 7th Director of National Intelligence | |
| In office January 21, 2021 – January 20, 2025 | |
| President | Joe Biden |
| Deputy | |
| Preceded by | John Ratcliffe |
| Succeeded by | Tulsi Gabbard |
| 27thUnited States Deputy National Security Advisor | |
| In office January 11, 2015 – January 20, 2017 | |
| President | Barack Obama |
| Leader | Susan Rice |
| Preceded by | Antony Blinken |
| Succeeded by | K. T. McFarland |
| 4thDeputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency | |
| In office August 9, 2013 – January 10, 2015 | |
| President | Barack Obama |
| Director | John Brennan |
| Preceded by | Michael Morell |
| Succeeded by | David S. Cohen |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Avril Danica Haines (1969-08-27)August 27, 1969 (age 56) New York City, U.S. |
| Party | Democratic |
| Spouse | David Davighi |
| Parent |
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| Education | |
Haines testifies on Russia at aHouse Intelligence Committee hearing on global threats Recorded March 8, 2022 | |
Avril Danica Haines (born August 27, 1969) is an American lawyer who served as theDirector of National Intelligence in theBiden administration.[1] She is the first woman to serve in this role. A member of theDemocratic Party, she previously served asDeputy National Security Advisor anddeputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in theObama administration. Prior to her appointment to the CIA, she was deputycounsel to the President for national security affairs.
Haines was born inNew York City on August 27, 1969,[2] to Adrian Rappin (née Adrienne Rappaport) andThomas H. Haines. She grew up on theUpper West Side of Manhattan.[3][4][5] Haines' mother, a painter, wasJewish.[6][7] When Haines was 10, her mother developedchronic obstructive pulmonary disease and contracted aviantuberculosis; Haines and her father nursed Adrian in a home ICU until her death when Haines was 15 years old.[4][5] Her father, Thomas H. Haines, was a biochemist who graduated with a PhD fromRutgers University and helped in the formation of theCUNY School of Medicine, where he served as the chair of the biochemistry department.[8]
After graduating fromHunter College High School, Haines moved toJapan for a year, where she enrolled atthe Kodokan, an elitejudo institute inTokyo.[5] In 1988, she enrolled in theUniversity of Chicago where she studiedphysics. While attending the University of Chicago, she worked repairing car engines at anautomobile repair shop inHyde Park.[5] In 1991 she took up flying lessons at the Princeton Airport outsideRocky Hill, New Jersey, where she met her future husband, David Davighi. She graduated with anAB in physics in 1992.[9]
In 1992, Haines moved toBaltimore, and enrolled as adoctoral student in physics atJohns Hopkins University. However, later that year, she dropped out and with her future husband purchased a bar inFell's Point, Baltimore, which had been seized in a drug raid;[5] they turned the location into an independent bookstore and café.[10] She named the store Adrian's Book Cafe, after her late mother; Adrian's realistic oil paintings filled the store.[10] The bookstore wonCity Paper's "Best Independent Bookstore" in 1997 and was known for having an unusual collection of literary offerings, local writers, and small press publications.[11] Adrian's hosted a number of literary readings, includingerotica readings, which became a media focus when she was appointed by PresidentBarack Obama to be the deputy director of the CIA.[12][13] She served as the president of the Fell's Point Business Association until 1998.[14]
In 1998, she enrolled at theGeorgetown University Law Center, receiving herJ.D. in 2001.[15]
In 2001, Haines became a legal officer at theHague Conference on Private International Law.[16] In 2002, she became alaw clerk forUnited States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit JudgeDanny Julian Boggs.[17] From 2003 until 2006, she worked in the Office of theLegal Adviser of the Department of State, first in the Office of Treaty Affairs and then in the Office of Political Military Affairs.[18] From 2007 until 2008, she worked for theUnited States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations as Deputy Chief Counsel for the MajoritySenateDemocrats (under then chairmanJoe Biden).[19]
Haines worked for theState Department as the assistant legal adviser for treaty affairs from 2008 to 2010,[20] when she was appointed to serve in the office of theWhite House counsel as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Counsel to the President for National Security Affairs at the White House.[21]
On April 18, 2013, Obama nominated Haines to serve asLegal Adviser of the Department of State, to fill the position vacated afterHarold Hongju Koh resigned to return to teaching atYale Law School.[22] However, on June 13, 2013, Obama withdrew Haines's nomination to be Legal Adviser of the Department of State, choosing instead to select her asDeputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.[23][20] Haines was nominated to replaceMichael Morell, the CIA's deputy and former acting director. The office of the deputy director is not subject to Senate confirmation, with Haines subsequently taking office on August 9, 2013, the final day of Morrell's tenure.[24] Haines was the first woman ever to hold the office of the deputy director, whileGina Haspel was the first female career intelligence officer to be named director.[25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]
In 2015, Haines, then deputy director of the CIA,[33] was tasked with determining whether CIA personnel should be disciplined for hacking computers of Senate staffers authoring theSenate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture. Haines chose not to discipline them, overruling the CIA Inspector General.[34]
During theDemocratic National Committee email leak in the middle of the 2016 presidential campaign, Haines as DNSA convened a series of meetings to discuss ways to respond to the hacking and leaks.[35] Subsequently, she was involved in the CIA project of redacting the Senate report[36] for release. In the end, only 525 pages of the 6,700 page CIA torture report were released.[37]
After serving as deputy director of the CIA, Haines was tapped asDeputy National Security Advisor (DNSA), the first woman to hold that position.[38][39][40]
During her years in the Obama administration, Haines worked closely withJohn Brennan in determining administration policy on extrajudicial "targeted killings" bydrones.[5]Newsweek reported Haines was sometimes called in the middle of the night to evaluate whether a suspected terrorist could be "lawfully incinerated" by adrone strike.[41]
TheACLU criticized the Obama policy ondrone killings as failing to meet international human rights norms.[42] Haines was instrumental in establishing the legal framework and policy guidelines for the drone strikes, which targeted suspected terrorists in Somalia, Yemen and Pakistan, but also resulted, according to human rights groups, in killing innocent civilians.[43][44] An editor ofIn These Times said the policy guidelines "made targeted killings all over the world a normal part of US policy".[45]
Critics of Haines' drone policy guidelines said that, although the guidelines stipulated "direct action must be conducted lawfully and taken against lawful targets," they did not reference any international or domestic law that might permitextrajudicial killings outside an active war zone. Opponents of US drone warfare have noted that Haines redacted the minimum criteria for an individual to be "nominated" for lethal action, that the term "nominated" is a deceptive euphemism for targeting people for assassination, and that the drone guidelines allow for the assassination of US citizens withoutdue process.[46]
After leaving theWhite House, Haines was appointed to multiple posts atColumbia University. She was a senior research scholar and deputy director for the Columbia World Projects, a program designed to bring to bear academic scholarship on some of the most fundamental challenges the world is facing, and was designated the program's director in May 2020, replacingNicholas Lemann.[47][48] Haines was also a fellow at theHuman Rights Institute and National Security Law Program atColumbia Law School.[49]
Haines served as a commissioner on theNational Commission on Military, National, and Public Service.[50] She is also a distinguished fellow at theInstitute for Security Policy and Law atSyracuse University[51] and a Senior Fellow at theJohns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.[52]
Haines has consulted forPalantir Technologies,[36] adata processing and analytics software solutions company that may have assisted with immigrant detention programs,[53] and was an employee ofWestExec Advisors,[54] a consulting firm with a secretive client list that includes high-tech start-ups seekingPentagon contracts.[55] The firm was founded byAntony Blinken, Biden's secretary of state, andMichele Flournoy, a former Pentagon adviser.[55]
In late June 2020, shortly after taking on the role of overseeing foreign policy and national security considerations for theJoe Biden 2020 presidential campaign transition team, references to Palantir and other corporations for which Haines had worked were removed from her fellowship résumé posted on the website of theBrookings Institution.[53]
In July 2021, an article[56] inThe American Prospect discussed Haines in their analysis of the connections between WestExec and theBiden administration.
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On November 23, 2020,Joe Biden, then thepresident-elect, announced his nomination of Haines for the position ofDirector of National Intelligence; she became the first woman to hold the position.[57][58]
Prior to her confirmation hearings,Daniel J. Jones, chief investigator and author of theSenate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture in 2009–2012, criticized Haines for determining that several CIA employees should not be disciplined for hacking computers of Senate staffers authoring the report in 2015. Haines, then Deputy Director, made the decision against theCIA inspector general's conclusion.[59]
During her Senate confirmation hearing on January 19, 2021, Haines toldRon Wyden (D-OR) that she would comply with theNational Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 requiring the intelligence community to share the report on who was responsible forJamal Kashoggi'smurder if confirmed. TheTrump administration had refused to release the report.[60][61]
SenatorMartin Heinrich (D-NM) asked Haines if she agreed with the conclusion of the Senate Intelligence Committee's 2012 report on torture which said that the practice was ineffective for collecting intelligence because those tortured would say anything to make it stop. Haines said there were "better" techniques than torture, and that it was inhumane, degrading, and unlawful.[62]
Wyden also asked if Haines agreed with the CIA Inspector General's conclusion that it was wrong for CIA agents to hack the computers of Senate staffers investigating the use of CIA torture during theBush administration. Haines said she agreed with the Inspector General's apology for the hack.[63]
SenatorsMarco Rubio (R-FL) andMark Warner (D-VA) questioned Haines aboutU.S.–China relations and, specifically, whether she shared their opinion that China was an adversary. Haines said, "China is adversarial and an adversary on some issues and on other issues, we try to cooperate with them." Haines promised an "aggressive response" to China and to counter its "illegal and unfair practices," but also said the US would seek China's cooperation in addressing theclimate crisis.[64][63]
When questioned about the January 6, 2021,storming of the Capitol building, Haines said it was the primary responsibility of theFBI to investigate domestic threats, though she also committed to collaborating with the FBI andDepartment of Homeland Security to evaluate the public threat ofQAnon, a conspiracy theory promoted by some supporters of PresidentDonald Trump.[65]
On January 20, 2021, Haines was confirmed by the Senate in an 84–10 vote.[66] She was the first nominee of the Biden administration to be confirmed, and was sworn in the next day by Vice PresidentKamala Harris.[67]
In May 2022, she warned against Russia andChina's efforts to "try to make inroads with partners of ours across the world," mentioningSaudi Arabia and theUnited Arab Emirates as examples.[68]
Haines was awarded theAustralian Intelligence Medal as part of the2024 King's Birthday Honours by the Australian Government. She was awarded the decoration for "distinguished service to the National Intelligence Community."[69]
In November 2024, Haines was awarded the NATO Parliamentary Assembly's "Women for Peace and Security Award".[70][71]
Haspel joined the Central Intelligence Agency in 1985, and spent most of her career undercover. She has been part of several controversies, including her involvement in several torture programs conducted by the U.S. She also ran waterboarding and other interrogation techniques at some of CIA's "black sites" or secret prisons.
Ms. Haspel is the first female career CIA officer to be named Deputy Director.
A longtime CIA clandestine operations official reportedly involved in its much-criticized "black site" interrogations after the 9/11 attacks was named number two at the US spy agency Thursday.
Kellyanne Conway, a senior White House aide and Trump's former campaign manager, congratulated Haspel in a tweet, saying she was the first female to be second in command at the CIA. However, Avril Haines was the first woman to hold the position, from 2013-15.
That CIA official's name whose torture activities the Post described is Gina Haspel. Today, as BuzzFeed's Jason Leopold noted, CIA Director Mike Pompeo announced that Haspel was selected by Trump to be Deputy Director of the CIA.
In a series of "deputies meetings" run by Avril Haines, the deputy national security adviser and a former deputy director of the C.I.A., several officials warned that an overreaction by the administration would play into Mr. Putin's hands.
| Government offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency 2013–2015 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | United States Deputy National Security Advisor 2015–2017 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Director of National Intelligence 2021–2025 | Succeeded by |
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| International | |
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| Other | |
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