James R. Clapper

James R. Clapper, Jr. (born March 14, 1941) is a retired lieutenant general in the United States Air Force and is currently the Director of National Intelligence. He was previously dual-hatted as the first Director of Defense Intelligence within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence alongside the position of Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence. Clapper has held several key positions within the United States Intelligence Community. He served as the director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) from September 2001 until June 2006. Previously, he served as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) from 1992 until 1995.

On June 5, 2010 President Barack Obama nominated Clapper to replace Dennis C. Blair as United States Director of National Intelligence. Clapper was unanimously confirmed by the Senate for the position on August 5, 2010.

In the media
In 2003 Clapper, then head of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, attempted to explain the absence of WMDs in Iraq by asserting that the weapons materials were "unquestionably" shipped out of Iraq to Syria and other countries just before the American invasion, a "personal assessment" which Clapper's own agency head at the time, David Burpee, "could not provide further evidence to support."

In an interview on December 20, 2010 with Diane Sawyer of ABC News, Clapper was completely unaware that twelve alleged would-be terrorists had been arrested in Great Britain earlier in the day.

In February, 2011, when mass demonstrations were bringing down Mubarak's presidency in Egypt, Clapper told a House Intelligence Committee hearing that:
 * "The term 'Muslim Brotherhood'...is an umbrella term for a variety of movements, in the case of Egypt, a very heterogeneous group, largely secular, which has eschewed violence and has decried Al Qaeda as a perversion of Islam," ... "They have pursued social ends, a betterment of the political order in Egypt, et cetera.....In other countries, there are also chapters or franchises of the Muslim Brotherhood, but there is no overarching agenda, particularly in pursuit of violence, at least internationally."

In March 2011, Clapper was heard at the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services and commented on the 2011 Libyan civil war that “over the longer term” Gaddafi “will prevail”. This position was loudly questioned by the White House, when National Security Advisor Thomas E. Donilon qualified his statement as a "static and one-dimensional assessment" and argued that “The lost legitimacy [of Gaddafi] matters". During the same hearing he was also questioned when he neglected to list Iran and North Korea among the nuclear powers that might pose a threat to the United States.

Military career
After a brief enlistment in the United States Marine Corps Reserve, General Clapper transferred to the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps program. He was commissioned in 1963 as a distinguished military graduate from the University of Maryland. He commanded a signals intelligence detachment in Thailand (where he flew 73 combat support missions in EC-47s), a signals intelligence SIGINT wing at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, and the Air Force Technical Applications Center, Patrick Air Force Base, Florida. Clapper served as director of intelligence for three of the unified commands: U.S. Forces Korea, U.S. Pacific Command and Strategic Air Command. Also, he served as senior intelligence officer for the Air Force. Clapper's final military post was as Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. After this he briefly served as an executive in several private companies such as Booz Allen Hamilton and SRA International.

Appointment as USD(I)
After his departure from NGA in June 2006, Clapper briefly served as the chief operating officer for Detica DFI, now a US-based subsidiary of BAE Systems. For the 2006-2007 academic year, Clapper held the position of Georgetown University’s Intelligence and National Security Alliance Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Intelligence. While teaching at Georgetown, Clapper was officially nominated by President George W. Bush to be Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence on 29 January 2007. Clapper was confirmed by the United States Senate on 11 April 2007. He was only the second person to hold this position, which oversees and provides policy, program, and budgetary guidance to the defense intelligence agencies - DIA, NGA, the National Security Agency (NSA), and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) - and also works closely with the Director of National Intelligence (DNI).

Nomination
On June 4, 2010, multiple news agencies reported that United States President Barack Obama was planning to nominate Clapper as the next Director of National Intelligence. Despite the report that Clapper was suggested to President Obama by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, both Chairwoman Diane Feinstein and Vice-Chairman Kit Bond of the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence had offered reservations regarding his appointment.

President Obama made the official announcement on June 5, 2010 saying Clapper "possesses a quality that I value in all my advisers: a willingness to tell leaders what we need to know even if it's not what we want to hear."

On August 5, 2010, Clapper was confirmed by the Senate in a unanimous vote. Lawmakers approved his nomination after the Senate Intelligence Committee backed him with a 15-0 vote. During his testimony for the position, Director Clapper pledged to advance the DNI's authorities, exert tighter control over programming and budgeting, and provide oversight over the CIA's use of predator drones in Pakistan.

New Deputy Director for Intelligence Integration
Director Clapper has announced a new position at the DNI, which will serve to integrate the former posts of Deputy Director for Analysis and Deputy Director for Collections, now called the deputy director for intelligence integration. Mr. Robert Cardillo, the deputy director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, was tapped as the first person to fill this new post.

Budget Authority
In a tentative agreement reached between Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Director Clapper, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence will assume administrative control over the National Intelligence Program (NIP). Previously the NIP was itemized within the Defense Department budget to help keep the line item and dollar amount from public disclosure, the practice of which will now be disbanded. Director Clapper's office publicly disclosed the top line budget late October 2010. Senior intelligence officials believe the budget change will likely strengthen the DNI's authority.

Iran
Giving evidence to the Senate in February 2012 Clapper told Congress that if Iran is attacked over its alleged nuclear weapons program, it could respond by closing the Strait of Hormuz to ships and launch missiles at regional U.S. forces and allies. Defense Intelligence Agency chief Lt. Gen. Ronald Burgess tells senators Iran is unlikely to initiate or intentionally provoke a conflict. Clapper says it’s “technically feasible” that Tehran could produce a nuclear weapon in one or two years, if its leaders decide to build one, “but practically not likely.” He says recent diplomatic outreach by Iran to European diplomats could indicate that officials there are reconsidering the program. Both men say they do not believe Israel has decided to strike Iran.

Education

 * 1963 Bachelor of Science degree in political science, University of Maryland
 * 1970 Master of Arts degree in political science, St. Mary's University, Texas
 * 1973 Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama
 * 1975 Distinguished graduate, Armed Forces Staff College, Norfolk, Virginia
 * 1976 Air War College, Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama
 * 1979 National War College, Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C.
 * 1990 Program for Senior Executives in National and International Security, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
 * 1990 Harvard Defense Policy Seminar, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Clapper also holds an honorary doctorate in strategic intelligence from the Joint Military Intelligence College, Washington, D.C., where he taught as an adjunct professor.

Major awards and decorations

 * William Oliver Baker Award
 * [[Image:Defense Distinguished Service ribbon.svg|60px]] Defense Distinguished Service Medal
 * Air Force Distinguished Service ribbon.svg Air Force Distinguished Service Medal
 * US Defense Superior Service Medal ribbon.svg Defense Superior Service Medal
 * [[Image:Legion of Merit ribbon.svg|60px]] Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters
 * Bronze Star ribbon.svg Bronze Star  with oak leaf cluster
 * [[Image:Defense Meritorious Service ribbon.svg|60px]] Defense Meritorious Service Medal
 * [[Image:Meritorious Service ribbon.svg|60px]] Meritorious Service Medal with oak leaf cluster
 * [[Image:Air Medal ribbon.svg|60px]] Air Medal with oak leaf cluster
 * Joint Service Commendation ribbon.svg Joint Service Commendation Medal
 * Air Force Commendation ribbon.svg Air Force Commendation Medal
 * National Order of Merit Commander Ribbon.png French Ordre national du Mérite (Commander)
 * Cheon-Su Security Medal Ribbon.png Republic of Korea Order of National Security Merit, Chonsu Medal
 * NIDRib.gif National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal

Effective dates of promotion

 * Second Lieutenant Jun 8, 1963
 * First Lieutenant Jan 8, 1965
 * Captain Mar 16, 1967
 * Major Nov 1, 1973
 * Lieutenant Colonel Apr 1, 1976
 * Colonel Feb 11, 1980
 * Brigadier General Oct 1, 1985
 * Major General Sep 1, 1988
 * Lieutenant General Nov 15, 1991

Assignments

 * May 1963 - March 1964, student, Signal Intelligence Officers Course, Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas
 * March 1964 - December 1965, analytic branch chief, Air Force Special Communications Center, Kelly Air Force Base, Texas
 * December 1965 - December 1966, watch officer and air defense analyst, 2nd Air Division (later, 7th Air Force), Tan Son Nhut Air Base, South Vietnam
 * December 1966 - June 1970, aide to the commander and command briefer, Air Force Security Service, Kelly Air Force Base, Texas
 * June 1970 - June 1971, commander, Detachment 3, 6994th Security Squadron, Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand
 * June 1971 - August 1973, military assistant to the director, National Security Agency, Fort George G. Meade, Md.
 * August 1973 - August 1974, aide to the commander and intelligence staff officer, Headquarters Air Force Systems Command, Andrews Air Force Base, Md.
 * August 1974 - September 1975, distinguished graduate, Armed Forces Staff College, Norfolk, Va.
 * September 1975 - June 1976, chief, signal intelligence branch, Headquarters U.S. Pacific Command, Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii
 * June 1976 - August 1978, chief, signal intelligence branch, J-23, Headquarters U.S. Pacific Command, Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii
 * August 1978 - June 1979, student, National War College, National Defense University, Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C.
 * June 1979 - January 1980, Washington area representative for electronic security command, deputy commander, Fort George G. Meade, Md.
 * February 1980 - April 1981, commander, 6940th Electronic Security Wing, Fort George G. Meade, Md.
 * April 1981 - June 1984, director for intelligence plans and systems, Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C.
 * June 1984 - May 1985, commander, Air Force Technical Applications Center, Patrick Air Force Base, Fla.
 * June 1985 - June 1987, assistant chief of staff for intelligence, U.S. Forces Korea, and deputy assistant chief of staff for intelligence, Republic of Korea and U.S. Combined Forces Command
 * July 1987 - July 1989, director for intelligence, Headquarters U.S. Pacific Command, Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii
 * July 1989 - March 1990, deputy chief of staff for intelligence, Headquarters Strategic Air Command, Offutt Air Force Base, Neb.
 * April 1990 - November 1991, assistant chief of staff for intelligence, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C.
 * November 1991–1995, director, Defense Intelligence Agency and General Defense Intelligence Program, Washington, D.C.