A White House lawyer who advised President Barack Obama on sensitive intelligence operations will be the CIA’s new deputy director, the first woman to hold such a senior post at the agency.
Officials said that Avril Haines, who worked as deputy assistant to Obama and legal adviser to the National Security Council, would replace Michael Morell, a veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency who had twice held the post of acting director.
Unlike her predecessor, the 43-year-old is a newcomer to the country’s leading spy agency but has worked closely on intelligence issues with the CIA’s new director, John Brennan, formerly Obama’s chief counterterrorism adviser.
“She has participated in virtually every deputies and principals committee meetings over the past two years and chairs the lawyers’ group that reviews the agency’s most sensitive programs,” Brennan said in a statement.
“In every instance, Avril’s command of substance, sense of mission, good judgment and keen insights have been outstanding.”
Haines likely will be helping the new CIA director revise guidelines for controversial drone strikes carried out by the agency, which Obama has promised to regulate more strictly.
Brennan is seen as an influential figure in the administration who is expected to try to move the CIA back to a more traditional role of intelligence gathering as opposed to targeted killings and other paramilitary action.
