Former US spymaster Avril Haines: a third world war is ‘plausible’
News Source
•Fri, 25 Sep 2026 12:00:26 GMT
📰 What Happened
Avril Haines, a former top US intelligence chief, says a third world war is 'plausible'. She said it could happen if the world does not figure out how to build a structure that manages conflict. She was speaking in an interview with the Financial Times.
In the FT's Lunch with the FT series, the article also reports that Haines says President Donald Trump trusts his gut more than he trusts institutions. Her warning points to the risk of big powers clashing without rules to keep them in check.
🔍 The Backstory
Haines has spent decades in US security and law. She was the first woman to lead US national intelligence, serving from 2021 to 2025. Before that she was deputy director of the CIA and a top national security adviser under President Obama.
She studied physics at university and later became a lawyer. From September 2026 she is president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Historians have compared today's tensions with the years before 1914, when a small event helped spark a world war.
🎯 Why It Matters
Warnings from people who once saw secret intelligence can change how leaders plan. For ordinary people, a wider war could mean higher prices and less security.
Avril Haines, a former top US intelligence chief, says a third world war is 'plausible'. She said it could happen if the world does not figure out how to build a structure that manages conflict. She was speaking in an interview with the Financial Times.
In the FT's Lunch with the FT series, the article also reports that Haines says President Donald Trump trusts his gut more than he trusts institutions. Her warning points to the risk of big powers clashing without rules to keep them in check.
Haines has spent decades in US security and law. She was the first woman to lead US national intelligence, serving from 2021 to 2025. Before that she was deputy director of the CIA and a top national security adviser under President Obama.
She studied physics at university and later became a lawyer. From September 2026 she is president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Historians have compared today's tensions with the years before 1914, when a small event helped spark a world war.
Warnings from people who once saw secret intelligence can change how leaders plan. For ordinary people, a wider war could mean higher prices and less security.