James R . Clapper James Robert 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 . Early life . Clapper was born in Fort Wayne , Indiana , the son of Anne Elizabeth ( née Wheatley ) and First Lieutenant James Robert Clapper . His maternal grandfather , James McNeal Wheatley , was an Episcopalian minister . In the media . In 2003 , Clapper , then head of the National Geospatial - Intelligence Agency , attempted to explain the absence of weapons of mass destruction 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 indicated he 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 : In March 2011 , Clapper was heard at the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services and commented on the 2011 Libyan civil war saying 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 based at a listening post in Thailand ' s Udon Thani Province ( where he flew 73 combat support missions in EC - 47 s ) ; 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 ) . Director of National Intelligence . 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 . In August 2010 , Clapper announced a new position at the DNI , which was designed to integrate the former posts of Deputy Director for Analysis and Deputy Director for Collections , now called the deputy director for intelligence integration . 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 . Former 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 . Common information technology enterprise and desktop . Director Clapper has made " intelligence integration " across the IC the primary mission of the ODNI . In 2012 , the office announced an initiative to create a common information technology desktop for the entire Intelligence Community , moving away from unconnected agency networks to a common enterprise model . The shared IT infrastructure will reach initial operating capability in late fiscal 2013 , with plans to bring on all intelligence agencies over the next few years . False testimony to Congress on NSA surveillance programs . On March 12 , 2013 , during a United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing , Senator Ron Wyden quoted the keynote speech at the 2012 DEF CON by the director of the NSA , Keith B . Alexander . Alexander had stated that " Our job is foreign intelligence " and that " Those who would want to weave the story that we have millions or hundreds of millions of dossiers on people , is absolutely false … From my perspective , this is absolute nonsense . " Wyden then asked Director Clapper , " Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans ? " He responded , " No , sir . " Wyden asked " It does not . " and Clapper said " Not wittingly . There are cases where they could inadvertantly perhaps collect , but not wittingly . " On June 6 , 2013 Director Clapper released a statement admitting the NSA collects telephony metadata on millions of Americans telephone calls . This metadata information included originating and terminating telephone number , telephone calling card number , International Mobile Station Equipment Identity ( IMEI ) number , time , and duration of phone calls , but did not include the name , address or financial information of any subscriber . On Sunday June 7 , 2013 , in an interview with Andrea Mitchell on NBC , Clapper said that he had chosen " I thought was the most truthful or least most untruthful manner " when he testified . On June 12 , 2013 , United States House of Representatives member Justin Amash became the first Congressman to openly accuse Director Clapper of criminal perjury , and calling for his resignation . In a series of tweets he stated : " It now appears clear that the director of national intelligence , James Clapper , lied under oath to Congress and the American people , " and " Perjury is a serious crime . . . [ and ] Clapper should resign immediately , " Senator Rand Paul said " The director of national intelligence , in March , did directly lie to Congress , which is against the law . " On June 27 , 2013 a group of 26 senators sent him a complaint letter opposing the use of a " body of secret law " . On July 1 , 2013 , Clapper issued an apology , saying that " My response was clearly erroneous – for which I apologize . " On July 2 , Clapper said that he had forgotten about the Patriot Act and therefore had given an " erroneous " answer . The journalist Glenn Greenwald accused the media in the U . S . of focusing on Edward Snowden instead of focusing on wrongdoing by Clapper and other U . S . officials . Jody Westby of " Forbes " argued that due to the revelations , the American public should ask Clapper to resign from office , arguing that " Not only did Mr . Clapper give false testimony to Congress , even his June 6 statement was false . We now know — since the companies identified by the Washington Post have started fessing up — that lots more than telephony metadata has been collected and searched . " Fred Kaplan of " Slate " also advocated having Clapper fired , arguing " if President Obama really welcomes an open debate on this subject , James Clapper has disqualified himself from participation in it . He has to go . " Andy Greenberg of " Forbes " said that NSA officials along with Clapper , in the years 2012 and 2013 " publicly denied – often with carefully hedged words – participating in the kind of snooping on Americans that has since become nearly undeniable . " John Dean , former White House Counsel for President Nixon , has claimed that it is unlikely Clapper would be charged with the three principal criminal statutes that address false statements to Congress : perjury , obstruction of Congress , and making false statements . David Sirota of " Salon " said that if the U . S . government fails to treat Clapper and Alexander in the same way as it did Roger Clemens , " the message from the government would be that lying to Congress about baseball is more of a felony than lying to Congress about Americans ’ Fourth Amendment rights " and that the " message would declare that when it comes to brazen law - breaking , as long as you are personally connected to the president , you get protection rather than the prosecution you deserve . " Education . 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 .