Burns Replaces Burns

William Burns is replacing Nicholas Burns as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, the number 3 job at State. The new Burns is arriving from Moscow, where he served as Ambassador. Previously, he was Assistant Secretary of State for Near East...but he may be best known as the co-author, with Ryan Crocker, of a paper called "The Perfect Storm," written at the behest of Colin Powell, in which Burns and Crocker argued against going to war in Iraq.

Old Burns was handling the Iran account at the State Department. Interesting to see where new Burns takes that hot potato.