James Clapper

James Robert Clapper Jr. is a retired lieutenant general in the U.S. Air Force. He has held several positions within the United States Intelligence Community such as: serving as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency from 1992-1995 and director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency from 2001-2006. 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. Clapper was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1941. He graduated from Nurnberg American High School in West Germany. He then went on to earn a bachelor of science degree in political science from the University of Maryland in 1963 and a master of science degree in political science from St. Mary's University, Texas in 1970. He later attended Air Command and Staff College in 1975 and then to Harvard Defense Policy Seminar at Harvard University in 1990. He started writing about his military experiences and in 2018 his book Facts and Fears made the bestseller list.