As C.I.A. director, William J. Burns was deeply focused on China and Russia when the Middle East conflict plunged him back into his old life.

While the United States tries to spy on one of the hardest targets, Burns has also tried to reopen a dialogue with Beijing, including via his counterpart, Chen Yixin, the security minister. (The head of the China Mission Center, a career CIA officer fluent in Mandarin, accompanied Burns on one of his trips to Beijing.)

In a fresh analysis, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) said it believes that the Covid-19 virus ‘more likely’ leaked from a Chinese lab than transmitted by animals. The US intelligence agency has released the ’low confidence’ assessment under Trump-appointed CIA director John Ratcliffe,

Federal workers are facing fresh anxieties with President Donald Trump’s first week of actions targeting agencies, including those that lead the federal government’s health policies.

Former U.S. Ambassador to China R. Nicholas Burns will return to the Harvard Kennedy School as a professor this April, joining the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, the University announced earlier this week.

Stocks Sink as Investors Worry About China’s A.I. Advances A jolt of panic hit technology stocks on Monday, with investors rattled by fears that A.I. advances by Chinese upstarts could threaten ...

The Buffalo Bills once again had their season ended by their biggest nemesis in the playoffs. Buffalo lost 32-29 to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC championship game.

WASHINGTON — The CIA now believes the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic likely originated from a laboratory, according to an assessment released Saturday that points the finger at China even while acknowledging that the spy agency has “low confidence” in its own conclusion.

A new analysis that began under the Biden administration is released by the C.I.A.’s new director, John Ratcliffe, who wants the agency to get “off the sidelines” in the debate.

He has offered a vision for a more aggressive spy agency, and his focus on the threat from China is widely shared by Republican and Democratic lawmakers.

New CIA Director John Ratcliffe ordered the covid origins analysis declassified, which a spokesperson described as a “low-confidence” assessment.

The new assessment came after John Ratcliffe was confirmed on Thursday as the CIA director under the second White House administration of Trump