Biden invites CIA Director Burns to join his cabinet

This was reported by the White House.

“I am pleased to announce that I have invited the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Bill Burns, to serve as a member of my Cabinet,”Biden said in a statement.

This move will not change Burns' role much in practice, as he will continue to lead the CIA, The Washington Post notes.

“Burns will now join Cabinet meetings, alongside the secretaries of state and defense, as well as Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, with whom he works closely. Haines praised Burns’s “combination of expertise, experiences, talent, and intelligence” in a statement. But Burns is not expected to assume any policy-making responsibilities,” the article says.

The Cabinet of the US president includes the highest officials of the executive branch of the federal government, who are appointed by the American leader with the consent of the Senate.

Biden's current cabinet consists of the US Vice President and 15 ministers, including the Secretary of State and the Attorney General.

As a reminder, CIA Director William Burns has been appearing in the media more and more often lately. He is also actively involved in the processes in Ukraine.

• In May, the official paid a secret visit to China to establish relations between Washington and Beijing.

• In early June 2023, he secretly visited Kyiv to meet with Ukraine's political and military leadership.

• On July 1, media reported that CIA Director William Burns had called Russian Intelligence Service chief Sergei Naryshkin after the mutiny attempt in Russia to assure the Kremlin that the United States was not involved.

• On July 21, he said that he remained optimistic about Ukraine's counteroffensive, as Russia suffers from significant structural weaknesses behind its defense.