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James R. Clapper

Director of National Intelligence

(Defense Department)

Why He Matters

From the attack on Pearl Harbor to 9/11, intelligence failures have been blamed for America's most devastating defeats. Clapper, a retired Air Force lieutenant general now serving as director of national intelligence, is among the government's top intelligence officials charged with making sure such attacks remain history. He struck a big blow when al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was found hiding and killed in May 2011 in a Abbottabad, Pakistan compound.

A holdover from the George W. Bush administration, Clapper was the principal adviser to both Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Deputy Secretary William Lynn on intelligence and security matters from the start of the Obama administration. He played another important role in the intelligence community as director of defense intelligence under Adm. Dennis Blair, who was President Obama's director of national intelligence (DNI) until he resigned in May 2010. Clapper served as liasion between the DNI, which he believes should be a robust office, and the Pentagon. Shortly after Blair's resignation, the White House nominated Clapper to replace his old boss as DNI.

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence (since April 2007); Director of defense intelligence, Directorate of National Intelligence (since April 2007); Director, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (2001-2006); Vice President and Director of Intelligence Programs, SRA International, Inc., Fairfax, Va. (1998-2001); Executive Director, Military Intelligence, Booz, Allen & Hamilton, Mclean, Va. (1997-1998)
Alma Mater: University of Maryland, B.S. in political science, 1963; St. Mary's University, Texas, Master of Science in political science, 1970
Office: 1400 Defense Pentagon, Washington, 20301-1400, 703-545-6700

Path to Power

Clapper has been devoted to the field of intelligence since launching his military career more than 45 years ago, attending the Air Force's Signal Intelligence Officers Course after graduating from the University of Maryland in 1963 with a B.A. in political science.

In his early career he served two combat tours in the Southeast Asia conflict, working out of South Vietnam and Thailand and flying dozens of combat support missions over Laos and Cambodia.

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The Issues

Clapper has confronted many of the thorny problems that surged during the Bush administration's handling of the "war on terror."

Within two weeks of assuming his position at the Pentagon in 2005, Clapper took steps to end the controversial Talon electronic-data program that prompted worry about Big Brother-esque surveillance of U.S. government dissenters. The program, implemented in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, gathered and spread data about U.S. citizens and others deemed a potential threat to Defense Department facilities. The fact that this group included peaceful American demonstrators and activists hit a nerve among civil-rights groups, and Clapper promised that a replacement system would "lay to rest the distrust and concern about the department's commitment to civil rights."

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Clapper called for more transparency from the beginning of his tenure, saying one of his projects would be to lift some veils of secrecy in the murky world of intelligence. "Particularly now," he said in 2007, "it is incumbent on the intelligence community to make available as much information as we possibly can so that the public knows what we're up against."

The retired lieutenant general also embraced stricter oversight on treatment of terrorist detainees. A directive was issued in fall 2008 to require Pentagon monitoring of all interrogations, including those conducted by non-military agencies. Previously, under Bush Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the CIA and foreign officials could question Pentagon prisoners without official observation.

Iraq and Afghanistan

Despite attempts to soften the Defense Department's image, Clapper was nonetheless a strong supporter of Bush's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, applauding the tactics used to fight al-Qaeda in 2007 testimony to the House Armed Services Committee and Senate Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. "Because of the President's commitment to our homeland security, we have more and better intelligence, military and law enforcement resources, and the capability to confront an enemy who is weaker now than it would have been absent our aggressive effort to confront and defeat them," he said.

Yet old-fashioned diplomacy and sensitivity are also in Clapper's repertoire, as he highlighted issues like the importance of respecting an ally like Pakistan's sovereignty or the need for more diversity in the intelligence field, calling for recruits with linguistic skills and deeper cultural understanding.

He also paired with Defense Secretary Gates in 2008 to help diminish the stigma attached to those who seek mental-health care to deal with post-traumatic stress, signing a memo that announced changes in the questionnaire used for government security clearances. "Seeking professional care for those mental health issues should not be perceived to jeopardize an individual's security clearance," the memo said.

Killing bin Laden

Under Clapper's watch as DNI, the world's most-wanted terrorist, al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. special forces after years of painstaking intelligence work. That work involved months of covert surveillance of the suspicious compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan where bin Laden turned out to be living with some members of his family, although the terrorist leader was never positively identified before the U.S. raid occurred.

On May 1, 2011, President Obama ordered the risky operation on the compound that U.S. intelligence officials had been monitoring for months. Inside the compound, they found and killed bin-Laden, the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and the target of a massive and frustrating 10-year manhunt.

bin Laden's body was removed from the compound, idenfitied positively through DNA evidence, and buried after administering Islamic rites and rituals, at sea.

"I think we can all agree this is a good day for America. Our country has kept its commitment to see that justice is done. The world is safer. It is a better place because of the death of Osama bin Laden," Obama said.

The Network

Clapper was chosen for his DoD post by Robert Gates, a fellow intelligence veteran who previously served as CIA director.

When first starting his under secretary job, Clapper was working among men who were colleagues for decades, including Adm. John Michael McConnell, the former director of national intelligence, and Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, former CIA director. "For intelligence," he said at the time, "It's really a golden opportunity given the assembly of the leaders"

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Campaign Contributions

After retiring from the military, Clapper made at least three campaign contributions: one of $250 to former Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.) in his 1996 bid for the presidency, and two more to former Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John W. Warner (R-Va.). Support for Warner's Senate career included $250 in 1996 and $1,000 in 2000. Warner, who retired in January 2009 after five Senate terms, was considered one of the Republican Party's top experts on military affairs.

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