Overview

Avril Danica Haines is the Director of National Intelligence (DNI); the first woman to hold the position; serving since January 2021 under President Biden. Before becoming DNI; Haines served as CIA Deputy Director under John Brennan from 2013 to 2015 and as Deputy National Security Advisor from 2015 to 2017. At the CIA; she played a central role in developing the legal and policy framework for the drone assassination program; helping to draft the rules governing targeted killings including strikes on American citizens abroad without trial. She oversaw the CIA's response to the Senate Intelligence Committee's investigation into CIA torture; and was criticized for not holding anyone accountable for the CIA's hacking of Senate computers investigating the torture program. The ACLU and human rights organizations opposed her DNI nomination; citing her role in codifying the drone kill list and her failure to pursue accountability for CIA torture. Before government service; Haines had an unusual background; studying theoretical physics at the University of Chicago; earning a JD from Georgetown; and running a bookstore/bar called Adrian's in Baltimore that hosted erotic fiction readings.

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