Reuters
Avril Haines, a former White House and CIA official whom President-elect Joe Biden chose for the top U.S. intelligence job, will tell Congress on Tuesday that she will continue tough U.S. scrutiny of China and press spy agencies to help resolve the COVID-19 crisis, a Biden transition official said. In testimony before a Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing, Haines, Biden's nominee for Director of National Intelligence, will declare that U.S. agencies must continue to collect intelligence to "support long-term bipartisan efforts to out-compete China — gaining and sharing insight into China’s intentions and capabilities, while also supporting more immediate efforts to counter Beijing’s unfair, illegal, aggressive and coercive actions, as well as its human rights violations," the transition official said.