Avril Haines confirmed as Director of National Intelligence by Senate

Updated: Jan 20, 2021 / 06:12 PM CST

Nominee for Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines speaks during her confirmation hearing as Nominee for Director of National Intelligence on Capitol Hill on January 19, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Joe Raedle / POOL / AFP) (Photo by JOE RAEDLE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (NewsNation Now) — President Joe Biden’s nominee for Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines was confirmed by the Senate Wednesday evening in an 84 to 10 vote.

Haines will be the first woman to serve as director of national intelligence, or DNI — a role created after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. She served as deputy national security adviser under Obama and previously was the first woman to serve as CIA deputy director.

Testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee Tuesday, Haines said the United States should take an “aggressive stance” toward the threat posed by the aggressive and assertive China that it faces today.

Haines also said she thought it would be some time before Tehran returned to strict compliance with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and that the Democratic Biden administration might itself return to the agreement, which outgoing Republican President Donald Trump abandoned in 2018.

Haines is the first of Biden’s Cabinet nominees to be confirmed.

Reuters contributed to this report.