Ambassador of the United States to the Russian Federation
Which position did William Joseph Burns hold from Nov 2005 to May 2008?
William Joseph Burns William Joseph Burns ( born April 11 , 1956 ) is an American diplomat and career ambassador serving as the director of the Central Intelligence Agency since March 19 , 2021 . He previously served as the United States deputy secretary of state from 2011 to 2014 . He retired from the US Foreign Service in 2014 after a 33-year diplomatic career . From 2014 to 2021 , he served as president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace . Burns previously served as Ambassador of the United States to Jordan from 1998 to 2001 , Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs from 2001 to 2005 , Ambassador of the United States to the Russian Federation from 2005 to 2008 , and Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs from 2008 to 2011 . In January 2021 , President Joe Biden nominated Burns to become the director of the Central Intelligence Agency . He was unanimously confirmed by voice vote on March 18 , 2021 , sworn in officially as director on March 19 , 2021 , and ceremoniously sworn in by Vice President Kamala Harris on March 23 , 2021 . Early life and education . Burns was born at Fort Bragg , North Carolina in 1956 . His father , William F . Burns , was a United States Army Major General , Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control , Bureau of Political-Military Affairs at the Department of State , and served as Director of the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency in 1988–1989 in the Ronald Reagan administration and as the first U.S . special envoy to denuclearization negotiations with former Soviet countries under the legislation sponsored by Senators Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar . He earned a B.A . in history from La Salle University and M.Phil . and D.Phil . degrees in international relations from St Johns College , Oxford , where he studied as a Marshall Scholar . Career . U.S . Foreign Service . Burns entered the Foreign Service in 1982 and served as Deputy Secretary of State from 2011 to 2014 . He had served as Under Secretary for Political Affairs from 2008 to 2011 . He was US Ambassador to Russia from 2005 to 2008 , Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs from 2001 to 2005 , and US Ambassador to Jordan from 1998 to 2001 . He had also been Executive Secretary of the State Department and Special Assistant to Secretaries Warren Christopher and Madeleine Albright , Minister-Counselor for Political Affairs at the U.S . Embassy in Moscow , Acting Director and Principal Deputy Director of the State Departments Policy Planning Staff , and Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Near East and South Asian Affairs at the US National Security Council . 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 . Promotions to the rank are rare . A cable that Burns signed as ambassador to Russia in August 2006 , released by WikiLeaks , provided a detailed eyewitness account of the lavish wedding organised in Makhachkala by Russian State Duma member and Dagestan Oil Company chief Gadzhi Makhachev for his son . The wedding lasted for two days and its attendees included Chechnya′s Ramzan Kadyrov . An FSB colonel sitting next to the cables authors tried to add cognac to their wine until an FSB general told him to stop . In 2015 , Burns told Gideon Rachman of the Financial Times that the cable had been largely written by his colleagues , with Rachman remarking that the telegram had gained a reputation of a minor classic of comic writing , its tone very much not what one might expect of a diplomatic cable . In June 2013 , Andrew Kuchins remarked about Burns′ 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 . In 2013 , Burns and Jake Sullivan led the secret bilateral channel with Iran that led to the interim agreement between Iran and the P5+1 and ultimately the Iran nuclear deal . Burns was reported to be in the drivers seat of the American negotiating team for the interim agreement . Burns had met secretly with Iranian officials as early as 2008 , when President George W . Bush dispatched him . 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 . In November 2020 , as Burns′ name was being cited by press as one of several possible candidates to be nominated by Joe Biden for Secretary of State , Russia′s broadsheet Kommersants sources in the state structures of the Russian Federation agreed that his candidacy would be the most advantageous for Moscow of all the five cited in the media . Director of the Central Intelligence Agency . On January 11 , 2021 , Joe Biden announced he planned to nominate Burns as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency , saying that Burns shared his belief that intelligence must be apolitical and that the dedicated intelligence professionals serving our nation deserve our gratitude and respect . On February 24 , his nomination was well-received in the confirmation hearing in the Senate . On March 2 , the Senate Intelligence Committee unanimously approved Burns nomination , setting him up for a final floor vote . On March 18 , Burns was confirmed to the role with unanimous consent after Senator Ted Cruz ( R-TX ) lifted his hold on the nomination . He was officialy sworn in on March 19 , with a ceremonialy swearing in done by Vice President Kamala Harris on March 23 , 2021 . As CIA Director , Burns receives daily updates on an ongoing series of mysterious attacks of US diplomates and intelligence/security personnel considered responsible for Havana syndrome . Publications . His memoir , The Back Channel : A Memoir of American Diplomacy and the Case for Its Renewal , was published by Random House in 2019 . It was published in conjunction with an archive of nearly 100 declassified diplomatic cables . International Relations scholars who reviewed the book were mostly positive . Burns’ dissertation was published in 1985 as Economic Aid and American Policy Toward Egypt , 1955—1981 . Awards . Burns is the recipient of three Presidential Distinguished Service Awards and a number of Department of State awards , including three Secretarys Distinguished Service Awards , the Secretarys Career Achievement Award , the Charles E . Cobb , Jr . Ambassadorial Award for Initiative and Success in Trade Development ( 2006 ) , the Robert C . Frasure Memorial Award ( 2005 ) , and the James Clement Dunn Award ( 1991 ) . He also received the Department of Defense Award for Distinguished Public Service ( 2014 ) , the U.S . Intelligence Community Medallion ( 2014 ) , and the Central Intelligence Agencys Agency Seal Medal ( 2014 ) . In 1994 , Burns was named to Times lists of 50 Most Promising American Leaders Under Age 40 and 100 Most Promising Global Leaders Under Age 40 . He was named Foreign Policys Diplomat of the Year in 2013 . He is the recipient of Anti-Defamation Leagues Distinguished Statesman Award ( 2014 ) , the Middle East Institutes Lifetime Achievement Award ( 2014 ) , and the American Academy of Diplomacys Annenberg Award for Diplomatic Excellence ( 2015 ) . Burns holds four honorary doctoral degrees and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . He is also an honorary Fellow , St . Johns College , Oxford ( from 2012 ) . Foreign government decorations . - Commandeur , Legion of Honour ( France ) - Knight Commander , Order of Merit ( Germany ) - Grand Cordon , Order of the Rising Sun ( Japan ) - Marshall Medal ( UK ) - Commentadore , Order of Merit ( Italy ) - First Order , Al Kawkab Medal ( Jordan ) Personal life . Burns is married to Lisa Carty , a former US diplomat and current UN OCHA senior official , and has two daughters . He speaks French , Russian , and Arabic . External links . - United States Embassy in Moscow : Biography of the Ambassado