James Clapper, ex-director of national intelligence: Russia, China among greatest threats to US
Former director of national intelligence sounds off about threats against U.S.
John McCarthy- During Vietnam War, James Clapper flew 73 combat support missions over Laos, Cambodia
- He was director of the Defense Intelligence Agency under President George H.W. Bush
- The Rotary Club of Indialantic invited James Clapper to speak. He waived his normal speaking fee
Russia poses the greatest existential threat to the United States in the near term, climate change will create huge problems around the globe and North Korea will not abandon its nuclear program.
Those were among the lead points the nation's former intelligence chief made to a Melbourne audience Wednesday night.
James Clapper, who served as the director of national intelligence under Barack Obama, spoke to a group of nearly 300 people at the King Center's Studio Theater, touching on a wide range of topics and taking questions from the audience.
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'Ain't going to happen'
Among his points:
• Russia absolutely attempted to influence U.S. elections. "They succeeded beyond their wildest expectations in the election of 2016," Clapper told the audience. He noted that the Russian government is more interested in undermining faith in U.S. institutions than in picking and choosing election winners. "They don't care; next time they'll go after Republicans."
• Now that North Korea has nuclear weapons, the country will not give them up. "They are not going to denuclearize. Ain't going to happen. That train has already left the station." He added that there are no military options to dealing with North Korea's nuclear program and that the U.S. should seek closer diplomatic ties with Pyongyang.
• Iran is complying with the deal to end its nuclear weapons program. Clapper said the deal is "flawed," but asked: What do you want, state-sponsored terrorism without a nuclear capability or state-sponsored terrorism with a nuclear capability?
• While Russia is the greatest threat to the United States in the short-term, China poses a larger threat in the long-term, and that China sees technology as a path to increased strength. He noted that through "covert espionage" such as intellectual property theft, China is already the greatest cyber threat to the United States. But beyond that, China is investing heavily in artificial intelligence and believes AI will change how future military forces fight wars.
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• By 2035, climate change will lead to water shortages, soil degradation and the spread of disease through large parts of the world.
• We are going to be "in the business of suppressing terrorism for some time," Clapper said. He believes that Islamic terrorist groups will continue to operate as long as the conditions that bring them recruits continue to exist. He said the best "bumper sticker" explanation of the Middle East comes from New York Times' columnist Thomas Friedman: Too expensive to fix; too important to ignore.
Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to speak at King Center
His thoughts on Trump
One thing that came through during Clapper's 90-minute presentation is that he is no fan of how President Trump is dealing with these threats, especially with Russia's interference in our elections. He noted that Trump believed Putin's assertion that Russia didn't attempt to influence our elections over the assessment of his own intelligence community. "Russia poses a fundamental threat. ... They are not our friends," he said.
He said that when he travels abroad, he is constantly questioned about Trump and U.S. leadership in global affairs. He said Defense Secretary James Mattis has had to take a larger role than any of his predecessors in world leadership because of Trump.
Clapper said the United States needs to do a better job of "counter-messaging" anti-American propaganda such as the recruitment materials used by terrorist groups. He noted that our leadership in the world stems not just from our military and economic power, but also from our core values, values that much of the rest of the world has embraced since World War II.
The United States is still the country that all others turn to for global leadership, Clapper said. "When bad things happen in the world, they don't call 911 in Moscow or Beijing. They call Washington."
Clapper was invited to speak by the Rotary Club of Indialantic and waived his normal speaking fee to do so.
His extensive background
Clapper, a retired Air Force lieutenant general, served as the nation's fourth director of national intelligence from 2010-17.
As DNI, Clapper oversaw the 16 agencies making up the U.S. "intelligence community" including the CIA, the National Security Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency. He delivered the daily intelligence brief to President Obama.
The director of national intelligence role was created in 2005 in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as a way to coordinate the overall efforts of the nation's various intelligence agencies. The DNI serves as the top intelligence adviser to the president.
Prior to becoming DNI, Clapper had a long and distinguished intelligence career. He was the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency under President George H.W. Bush and under secretary of defense for President George W. Bush.
During the Vietnam War, Clapper flew 73 combat support missions over Laos and Cambodia. He also served as commander of the Air Force Technical Applications Center at Patrick Air Force Base in the '80s.
Contact McCarthy at 321-752-5018
or jmccarthy@floridatoday.com.