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CIA chief: I’m no Jason Bourne, I drive an old Subaru
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director William Burns said in the United States spy agency's first-ever podcast on Thursday that his life was nothing like Jason Bourne and James Bond.
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Not a Hollywood movie: Central Intelligence Agency director William Burns testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee on March 10 in Washington, DC. Burns said in a podcast onThursday that his life as a special agent is nothing like Jason Bourne and James Bond. (AFP/Getty Images/Kevin Dietsch)
C
entral Intelligence Agency (CIA) director William Burns said in the United States spy agency's first-ever podcast on Thursday that his life was nothing like Jason Bourne and James Bond, ripping hot cars through crowded cities and deploying unimaginable lethal gadgets.
Popular spy films show "a world of heroic individuals who drive fast cars and defuse bombs and solve world crises all on their own every day”, Burns said.
"That, I have to tell you, is a constant source of amusement for my wife and daughters."
"I'm most comfortable driving our 2013 Subaru Outback at posted speed limits and, for me at least, the height of technological daring is when I can finally get the Roku remote to work at home," he admitted.
Burns, 66, a veteran diplomat who has run the CIA since March 2021, made the comments in the first episode of The Langley Files, a podcast that pledges to demystify the super-secret agency.
Burns' main point was to stress that while the CIA has many officers undercover in the field, they are not dramatic solo operators like Bond, Bourne or Jack Ryan of Hollywood fame.
"The truth is that intelligence is very much a team sport. It's a profession of hard collective work and shared risks," Burns said.
