Haines is the first woman to serve as Director of National Intelligence and the 7th senate-confirmed Director of National Intelligence in U.S. history following the departure of John Ratcliffe. Haine’s predecessor Ratcliffe had called China as America’s greatest threat since World War II, and, from the intelligence agencies’ perspective, Beijing “intends to dominate the U.S. and the rest of the planet economically, militarily and technologically.” Haines will be overseeing the intelligence agencies with a slightly different view on China. Cybersecurity is going to be a contingent issue between the United States and China in the intelligence domain. Haines acknowledged that there are fundamental differences between the United States and China over cybersecurity. In an interview June 2020, she hailed international collaboration over cybersecurity but also suggested that it is also critical “just to make progress where you can do so, as in the case of cyber issues between the United States and China.” 

Haine’s approach to China also aligns with Biden’s call for a democratic front. She recalled her tenure as the Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency when “we looked to our partners first, in Europe and elsewhere, where we shared certain values related to the internet and the open exchange of information,” and “Over time, these small steps can put more pressure on other countries that disagree with you like China.” Haines agreed that it is important to address cybersecurity issues with China and at least “agree with China that neither country will conduct or knowingly support cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property with the intent of providing competitive advantages to companies or commercial sectors was an important step, even if it was insufficient to address the range of challenges we have with China that are related to cybersecurity” so that there may be further success with China in finding common grounds in these areas.