CIA Nominee Says He Cut Ties With Chinese Propaganda Group as President of Foreign Policy Think Tank

William Burns, nominee for Central Intelligence Agency director, testifies during his Senate Select Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing in Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Feb. 24, 2021. Tom Williams-Pool/Getty Images

• President Joe Biden’s nominee for CIA director spoke candidly on Wednesday about the Chinese government’s authoritarian bent, and its use of front groups to influence U.S. policy towards Beijing.
• William Burns also faced questions about his tenure at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, which had a relationship with one of the Chinese government front groups.
• Burns told the Senate Intelligence Committee that shortly after he took over at Carnegie in 2015, he severed ties with the China-U.S. Exchange Foundation due to “expansion of Chinese influence operations.”
• Despite the claim, Carnegie and the foundation maintained a relationship as late as 2017.

William Burns, the nominee for CIA director, called the Chinese government a “formidable, authoritarian adversary” during his Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday, while facing questions about his tenure as president of a foreign policy think tank that received funding from a businessman and Chinese front group with links to the Chinese Communist Party.

During the hearing, Burns addressed a relationship between the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, which he took over in March 2015, and the Chinese-U.S. Exchange Foundation (CUSEF), a Hong Kong-based think tank that operates under the direction of the Chinese Communist Party.