Biden's 1st visit to intel agency to contrast with Trump's

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WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden is making his archetypal sojourn to an bureau of the U.S. quality community, looking to stress his assurance successful nationalist information leaders aft his predecessor's incendiary battles against what helium often derided arsenic the “deep state.”

Biden is scheduled Tuesday day to sojourn the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees the 17 U.S. quality organizations. The White House said successful a connection that Biden intends to explicit “admiration for their enactment and underscore the value for our nationalist information of quality postulation and investigation escaped from governmental interference.”

President Donald Trump visited the Central Intelligence Agency connected his archetypal afloat time successful office, praising the agencies but besides airing idiosyncratic grievances. Standing successful beforehand of CIA’s memorial partition with stars marking each of the officers who person died portion serving, Trump settled scores with the media and repeated false claims astir the size of his inauguration crowd.

The narration betwixt the quality assemblage and the president "went downhill from that precise day,” said Glenn Gerstell, who past served arsenic wide counsel of the National Security Agency and stepped down past year.

Trump would spell done 4 imperishable oregon acting directors of nationalist quality successful 4 years and engaged successful near-constant fights with the quality community.

In particular, helium was aggravated astir its appraisal that Russia had interfered connected his behalf successful the 2016 statesmanlike run and its relation successful revealing that Trump pressured Ukraine to analyse Biden, an enactment that yet led to Trump's archetypal impeachment. Trump yet fired the inspector wide astatine the nationalist quality bureau — the interior watchdog who brought that unit to light.

By contrast, Biden has repeatedly insisted that helium would not exert governmental unit connected quality agencies, a connection repeated by his apical appointees. He besides came to bureau with a agelong past of moving with quality officials arsenic vice president and serving successful the Senate.

The president has already called connected National Intelligence Director Avril Haines with respective politically delicate requests. Perhaps the astir salient is an enhanced review of the origins of COVID-19 arsenic concerns summation among scientists that the caller coronavirus could person originated successful a Chinese lab. Biden acceptable a 90-day timeframe and pledged to marque the results of the reappraisal public.

Haines and CIA Director Bill Burns are besides investigating a increasing fig of reported injuries and illnesses perchance linked to directed vigor attacks successful what's known arsenic “Havana syndrome.” The CIA precocious appointed a caller manager of its task unit investigating Havana syndrome cases, an undercover authoritative who participated successful the hunt for Osama bin Laden. And quality agencies are having to accommodate to the subject withdrawal from Afghanistan, with increasing concerns that the Taliban whitethorn topple the U.S.-backed cardinal government.

Haines and Burns person besides said that their reappraisal of COVID-19 origins whitethorn beryllium inconclusive, astir apt disappointing lawmakers and observers who person pushed for much assertive enactment against China.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that Biden was not apt to marque Trump “a cardinal portion of his message" during his visit.

“He’s idiosyncratic who believes successful the relation of the quality assemblage of civilian servants,” she said. “He believes they’re the backbone of our authorities and surely he’ll marque that clear.”

Harry Coker, a erstwhile National Security Agency and CIA elder authoritative who advised the Biden modulation team, said helium expected the president to sermon threats from China and his priorities for dealing with Beijing. Coker besides expected Biden to code sagging morale wrong the nationalist quality bureau and marque wide his involvement successful “wanting the information whether anyone perceives it to beryllium bully oregon bad."

Former officials said Biden's prime of visiting the nationalist quality manager earlier the CIA was important due to the fact that it makes wide helium wants Haines to beryllium considered his main quality adviser. When her bureau was created successful 2005 to amended coordinate quality sharing pursuing the 9/11 attacks, it subsumed a enactment relation erstwhile held by the CIA director. Since then, agencies and leaders person periodically fought for preeminence, causing concerns that immoderate agencies' views are much powerfully heard than others.

“I deliberation we’ve had a mates of presidents successful a enactment wherever the supremacy of the DNI was enactment successful immoderate question either done the enactment of radical they chose successful the occupation oregon however they engaged with the community,” said Larry Pfeiffer, a erstwhile elder authoritative astatine some the CIA and the quality bureau who present leads the Hayden Center astatine George Mason University.

Pfeiffer said helium powerfully supported Biden's sojourn and besides hoped the president would yet sojourn the memorial partition wherever Trump spoke successful January 2017.

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Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani contributed to this report.

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