James Clapper
James R. Clapper, Jr. is a retired Lieutenant General in the United States Air Force and serves as Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence - USD(I). He is also dual-hatted as the first Director of Defense Intelligence within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.[1] 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.[2]
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.[3] 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.[4] 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.[5] 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 as Director of National Intelligence
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.[2][6] 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 have offered reservations regarding his appointment.[2]
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." [7]
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
Defense Distinguished Service Medal
Air Force Distinguished Service Medal
Defense Superior Service Medal
Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters
Bronze Star with oak leaf cluster
Defense Meritorious Service Medal
Meritorious Service Medal with oak leaf cluster
Air Medal with oak leaf cluster
Joint Service Commendation Medal
Air Force Commendation Medal- File:National Order of Merit Commander Ribbon.png French Order of National Merit (Commander)
Republic of Korea Order of National Security of Merit, Chonsu Medal
National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal
References
- ^ "Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence to be Dual-hatted as Director of Defense Intelligence," DNI News Release, May 24, 2007
- ^ a b c "James Clapper to be Tapped as New National Intelligence Director," CBS News, June 04, 2010
- ^ "United States Air Force Biography"
- ^ "Professor in Practice of Intelligence Established", Georgetown University
- ^ "DoD Announces Clapper as the New Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence", M2 Presswire, April 16, 2007
- ^ "AP source: Pentagon official tapped as intel chief," Washington Post, June 04, 2010
- ^ Obama nominates Clapper to head spy agencies, MSNBC, June 05, 2010
 | ||
- United States Department of Defense officials
- Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (United States)
- Recipients of the Legion of Merit
- Recipients of the Bronze Star Medal
- United States Air Force generals
- American military personnel of the Vietnam War
- Directors of the Defense Intelligence Agency
- Georgetown University faculty
- Living people
- Recipients of the Air Medal
- Commandeurs of the Ordre national du Mérite
- University of Maryland, College Park alumni