Avril Haines, the spy who ruled all American intelligence
With her slender figure, straight hair and classic, even boring style - specific to employees of the capital - the discreet Avril Haines hides her game well. Like a perfect spy. At 51, the new boss of American intelligence is one of the most powerful women in the world. She is at the head of the eighteen intelligence agencies including the CIA or the very secret NSA (National Security Agency). She's also one of the first faces President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris see every morning: She's the one who introduces them to the President's Daily Briefing at 9 a.m. in the Oval Office. , a report compiling classified information collected overnight by its network of agents.
Avril Haines, the first woman to be appointed to this position, curious and daredevil, had a thousand and one lives. Nothing in his youth, however, foreshadowed a career as head of intelligence. Former CIA director John O. Brennan humorously calls it “bohemian.” Of course, his style and career stand out compared to most of his colleagues.
Love and turbulence
In 1991 - she was 22 at the time - Avril Haines decided to make a dream come true: to fly an airplane. The young New Yorker takes lessons, falls in love with her instructor, and together they decide to renovate a small tourist device to cross the Atlantic. Haines knows engines: she was a mechanic to finance her studies. The duo take off from Maine one summer afternoon full of excitement, hoping to arrive in Britain the next day. Barely in the air, they had to land urgently due to technical problems. The transatlantic flight ends there, but Avril Haines marries her co-pilot, David Davighi.
The following year, the couple embarked on another equally original adventure. They buy in Baltimore a bar closed by the police, which was also used as a brothel. They transform it into a café-bookstore that Avril names Adrian's Book Cafe in homage to her mother, Adrian Rappin, who died when she was 15 years old. She suffered from pulmonary emphysema and could only move around in a wheelchair. At 12, Avril had the responsibility of taking care of it. She sometimes woke up at night to nurse him. One evening, she even had to reinsert a tracheostomy tube.
After the death of her mother, Avril Haines and her father are overwhelmed by healthcare debt. They have to leave their apartment and live for a time with relatives. After high school, Avril Haines, physically and emotionally exhausted, left for Japan to learn judo for a year. She comes back with a brown belt.
When she returned to the United States, she studied physics at the University of Chicago. A male-dominated department where she is made to feel out of place. A professor even slips to him that his mind is surely not made for this subject. She moves to Baltimore with the intention of obtaining a doctorate in physics but embarks on the bookstore project. At the suggestion of a client, the young bookseller organizes monthly erotic readings there. Interviewed at the time in the daily newspaper The Baltimore Sun, Haines describes these Erotica evenings: “They are more and more popular, because people want to sleep together without really sleeping together. Others try to find new fantasies to spice up their monogamous relationships. An astonishing career for a future head of American intelligence as a whole... She will nevertheless end up entering the prestigious law school of Georgetown University in 1998. She becomes a lawyer at the State Department.
A praised expert
Avril Haines now has a real fan club in the capital. In 2010, she was appointed deputy legal adviser to Barack Obama for national security affairs. "In a building where people work 24 hours a day, she stood out for her excellence, her grace and her humanity," recalls Jordan Strauss, a former employee of the National Security Council who at the time occupied an office on the same floor as the young lady. I remember someone unassuming who puts you at ease right away. But, after a few sentences, you realize you're talking to someone special."
Even praise from David Kris, former aide to President Obama for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism. “I saw her regularly in interagency meetings, she was always the voice of reason. She's incredibly smart, very caring, and a pleasure to work with. That's a rare combination in Washington! I have a lot of respect and admiration for her,” he says. He remembers the first time he met the lawyer, at a conference bringing together federal judges in Washington. Avril Haines, she spoke on the issue of cyberattacks. “I had worked a lot on the subject, I was flabbergasted by his performance. I contacted her afterwards to tell her how remarkable I had found her. He adds: “The diversity of his experiences undoubtedly allows him to carry out his work in a more human way.”
Those who know her also believe that her very diverse interests will help her understand the thousands of employees she supervises: analysts, spies, engineers, pilots or even accountants. "You know, I'm usually not that generous with people, but she really is an exceptional woman," says a former Avril collaborator. Her work rate impresses her peers who sometimes refer to her as Superwoman. When she was stationed at the White House, she sometimes worked until the early hours. She'd come home for a shower, an iced coffee at the local Starbucks, and then stack up for the day. Her husband sometimes brought her dinner in his office. Barack Obama appreciates her so much that he decides to appoint her number 2 in the CIA in 2013. She is the first woman to hold this position. Former CIA director General Michael Hayden confides: "J I was very excited to learn of his appointment. She's a professional. She quickly proved herself to the CIA. I think she will make an excellent director of intelligence.” CNN reporter Vivian Salama, a national security expert, covered Avril Haines' Senate confirmation hearing on January 19. “You can see that she is a badass, without being aggressive or intimidating. She speaks softly and smiles. His appointment was almost unanimous in the Senate: 84 senators including many Republicans are in favor, only 10 against. “It is no coincidence that Joe Biden made sure that she was the first member of his cabinet to be confirmed, because her role is extremely important,” said Vivian Salama.
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A close friend of Joe Biden
The American president maintains a relationship of complicity with Avril Haines. He explained his choice to the press: “She is brilliant. She is a pragmatic professional who can talk in the same conversation about literature, theoretical physics, car repair, airplane piloting or even the management of a bookstore.” Avril Haines served as his deputy adviser when he chaired the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee for two years, from 2007 to 2008. According to the CNN reporter, his close relationship with the White House tenant is a asset. “As she is very close to the president, when she talks to her counterparts in France, Japan or elsewhere, they will know that she speaks on his behalf. This was a problem under Trump, because members of his cabinet would tell people certain things and end up tweeting the opposite. Haines knows exactly what Joe Biden is thinking.” As for General Hayden, he believes that “we need someone who can speak frankly to the president, tell him when he is wrong”.
But Avril Haines' appointment has sparked an outcry from many human rights advocates, who accuse her of helping to conceal information about controversial drone attack programs , when she was Deputy National Security Advisor under Barack Obama. Anti-war organization CodePink, which dubs her the “Queen of Drones,” accuses her of “helping shape Obama’s drone policy, which has killed civilians around the world.” Barack Obama commissioned Haines to define a legal framework for determining when to strike. Many NGOs consider its recommendations too lax. Haines confided, in July 2020, in a rare interview with the Daily Beast, that he had insisted on the establishment of a process in which the use of drones would be done “in rare circumstances, when it is absolutely necessary”. Harold Koh, a former State Department official, confirms that she tried to curb the use of drones instead: “It was a voice calling for restraint.”
Boosting the morale of the troops
According to David Kris, his human qualities should help him navigate this complex position, which oversees many agencies where personal ambitions jostle: "You need someone one with little ego to be the intelligence boss, because he has a lot of responsibilities but is not directly in charge of most files. If you're too bossy, it won't work, because you don't have that much control. His way of looking for solutions without promoting himself will be very useful to him.” Its role is also to reassure an intelligence community undermined under the presidency of Donald Trump. The latter regularly criticized the services. During his hearing, Haines promised to remain "apolitical." Washington's most powerful lawyer is not only known for leaving chocolates on her colleagues' desks, but also for imposing herself firmly when making decisions.
