Avril Haines Director of National Intelligence since January 21, 2021 Date of Birth: 29.08.1989 Country: USA

1. Director of National Intelligence
2. Early Life and Education
3. Career Path
4. Service in the Obama Administration
5. Director of National Intelligence

Director of National Intelligence

Avril Haines has served as the Director of National Intelligence since January 21, 2021. She is the first female Director in the history of the United States, appointed by President Joe Biden.

Early Life and Education

Avril Haines was born into a bohemian family on the Upper West Side of New York City. Her mother, who was a biochemist, developed chronic emphysema and later bird tuberculosis. When Avril was twelve years old, she became her mother's primary caregiver. After graduating from high school, she traveled to Japan and earned a brown belt in judo at the Kodokan Institute.

Avril returned to the United States and studied physics at the University of Chicago. She also worked as a mechanic in an auto body shop during this time. While home for college break, she met a flight instructor named David Davighi. Together, they restored an old twin-engine Cessna and attempted to fly it to Europe, but encountered icing over the Labrador Sea. They were able to crash-land on the coast of Newfoundland.

Career Path

Avril and David Davighi moved to Baltimore in 1992, where she began a Ph.D. program in physics at Johns Hopkins University. They purchased a building that had formerly been a bar and brothel in a rough neighborhood and converted it into a bookstore and cafe named Adrian's Book Café, in memory of Avril's mother.

Avril decided to pursue a law degree and enrolled at Georgetown University Law School in 1998. She developed an interest in international law and human rights. After graduating, she clerked for a federal appellate judge before joining the Office of the Legal Adviser at the U.S. State Department in 2003.

Service in the Obama Administration

From 2010, Avril Haines served in the Obama administration as deputy assistant to the president for national security affairs and senior counsel to the National Security Council. In August 2013, she was appointed Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). In December 2014, she became Deputy National Security Advisor to President Barack Obama, serving until the end of his term in 2017.

Director of National Intelligence

On January 21, 2021, Avril Haines was confirmed by the Senate as the Director of National Intelligence. She is responsible for overseeing the U.S. intelligence community and providing the president with national security intelligence assessments.