--- alias: - William J. Burns - Bill Burns born: 1956-04-11 category: Intelligence & Government created: 2026-06-18 location: Fort Bragg, North Carolina (born) summary: William J. Burns is an American diplomat and intelligence official who served as U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, president of the Carnegie Endowment, and Director of Central Intelligence from 2021 to 2025 under Joe Biden, and whose multiple 2014 meetings with Jeffrey Epstein at the Epstein Manhattan townhouse were documented in the Wall Street Journal's 2023 review of the Epstein calendars. tags: - Person - WilliamBurns - CIA - StateDepartment - JeffreyEpstein - Palantir - Biden - Intelligence updated: 2026-06-18 --- William J. Burns (born April 11, 1956, at Fort Bragg, North Carolina) is an American diplomat and intelligence official who served as the [Director of Central Intelligence](/organizations/director-of-central-intelligence/) from March 2021 to January 2025 under President [Joe Biden](/people/joe-biden/). Burns's career spans the Foreign Service (ambassador to [Jordan](/places/jordan/) 1998-2001, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs 2001-2005, ambassador to [Russia](/places/russia/) 2005-2008, deputy secretary of state 2011-2014), the think-tank sector (president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace 2015-2021), and the intelligence community (CIA director 2021-2025). The Wall Street Journal reported in 2023, on the basis of the Epstein calendars, that Burns met with [Jeffrey Epstein](/people/jeffrey-epstein/) on multiple occasions in 2014 at the Epstein Manhattan townhouse, while Burns was between the deputy-secretary-of-state tenure and the Carnegie Endowment presidency. Burns stated through a spokesperson that he "deeply regrets" the meetings and was unaware of Epstein's 2008 conviction at the time.[^1][^2][^3] ### Career and the Diplomatic-to-Intelligence Trajectory Burns entered the Foreign Service in 1982 and rose through the Near Eastern Affairs and policy-planning ranks under both Republican and Democratic administrations. His ambassadorial assignments in Jordan and Russia and his tenure as assistant secretary for Near Eastern Affairs placed him at the operational center of U.S. Middle East policy across the 9/11 period, the Iraq War, and the post-Arab Spring regional realignment. His 2011-2014 tenure as deputy secretary of state under Hillary Clinton and [John Kerry](/people/john-kerry/) covered the Benghazi period, the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA) negotiations, and the early stages of the Syrian conflict.[^1] The 2014 transition from deputy secretary of state to the Carnegie Endowment presidency is the gap during which the Epstein meetings occurred. Burns left government in November 2014 and took the Carnegie Endowment presidency in February 2015, and the WSJ-reported Epstein meetings fall within the 2014 window when Burns was a private citizen but still the most recently retired deputy secretary of state. Burns spent the six years (2015-2021) between the State Department departure and the CIA directorship at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.[^1] ### The Epstein Meetings The Wall Street Journal's May 2023 report on the Epstein calendars documented that Burns met with Jeffrey Epstein on multiple occasions in 2014, including at the Epstein Manhattan townhouse. The reporting was based on the schedules and emails obtained from the Epstein files, which the WSJ reviewed. The meetings occurred after Epstein's 2008 federal non-prosecution agreement but before the 2019 federal sex-trafficking charges. Burns stated through a spokesperson that he was unaware of Epstein's 2008 conviction at the time and that he cut ties with Epstein upon learning of it. The Guardian reported Burns's statement that he "deeply regrets ever meeting" with Epstein.[^1][^2] The Carstensen EFTA index documents additional Epstein file entries relevant to the Burns-Epstein relationship. The Tommy Carstensen aggregator cross-references the EFTA releases to document the Thiel-Epstein-Burns overlap: [Peter Thiel](/people/peter-thiel/)'s documented 2014 meetings at the Epstein townhouse overlap chronologically with Burns's, placing the chairman of a major [CIA](/organizations/central-intelligence-agency/) contractor ([Palantir](/organizations/palantir-technologies/), whose government business includes the CIA as a client) and the future CIA director in the same Epstein-mediated setting within the same calendar year. Burns became CIA director in March 2021, seven years after the meetings.[^3][^4] ### The Palantir Overlap Palantir Technologies received early funding from the CIA venture arm In-Q-Tel in 2004 and is a documented CIA platform supplier through its Gotham product. Burns's CIA directorship (2021-2025) postdated his 2014 Epstein meetings by seven years. The Carstensen EFTA index documents that Peter Thiel's 2014 meetings at the Epstein townhouse overlap chronologically with Burns's, placing the future CIA director and the Palantir chairman on the same Epstein-mediated social terrain within the same calendar year.[^3][^4] The substantive question of what was discussed at the Burns-Epstein meetings, and whether any of it touched on Palantir or on intelligence matters, is not documented in the primary sources currently available. Burns's spokesperson's statement framed the meetings as relating to Burns's transition to the Carnegie Endowment and to geopolitics, and the WSJ reporting did not establish that intelligence or contracting matters were discussed. The Epstein calendars and the Carstensen-indexed EFTA entries are the primary record; they document the co-presence but not the meeting content.[^1][^3] ### The CIA Directorship and the Biden Tenure Burns was nominated for the CIA directorship by President Biden in November 2020 and confirmed by the Senate in March 2021. His tenure covered the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal, the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine (Burns had met with Russian SVR chief Sergei Naryshkin in Moscow in November 2021 in a documented attempt to dissuade the invasion), the 2023 Hamas-Israel war, and the broader [China](/places/china/)-Russia strategic realignment. Burns returned to private life in January 2025 at the end of the Biden administration.[^1] The 2023 disclosure of the 2014 Epstein meetings surfaced the connection after Burns had already become CIA director, placing a sitting CIA director in the publicly disclosed Epstein relationship. Burns's spokesperson's framing (unaware of the conviction, regrets the meetings, cut ties on learning) is the official position. The underlying primary documents are the Epstein calendars and the Carstensen-indexed EFTA entries.[^1][^2][^3] [^1]: "Jeffrey Epstein's Private Calendar: CIA Director William Burns..." *Wall Street Journal,* May 2023. https://www.wsj.com/us-news/jeffrey-epstein-calendar-cia-director-goldman-sachs-noam-chomsky-c9f6a3ff ; For Burns's career and the CIA directorship, see the CIA official biography and the contemporaneous confirmation and tenure coverage. [^2]: "Jeffrey Epstein messaged with former CIA director Bill Burns, files show." *The Guardian,* February 2026. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/04/jeffrey-epstein-bill-burns-cia-messages [^3]: Tommy Carstensen Epstein Files index, "Peter Thiel," cross-referencing the EFTA releases. https://tommycarstensen.com/epstein/people/peter-thiel.html [^4]: For the Palantir Technologies-In-Q-Tel relationship and the CIA client base, see the Palantir Technologies page and the underlying SEC EDGAR filings.