Officials at the department and the White House are in the middle of a messy and complicated debate over how to respond to President Trump’s lawsuit demanding $10 billion from the I.R.S.
In a 40-year career as an international correspondent for The New York Times, Mr. Burns had a talent for capturing the sweep of history in intricate detail.
Over three decades, he reported from Moscow, Beijing, Tehran and elsewhere and wrote well-received books based on his reporting, including one about his globe-trotting cat.