US President Barack Obama was to name retired lieutenant general and veteran intelligence expert James Clapper yesterday as his new spy chief, officials said, in a bid to improve troubled US intelligence gathering.
Clapper would replace Dennis Blair, who stepped down last month amid heavy criticism after a string of security shortcomings, among them failure to thwart planned attacks including one by an al-Qaeda-linked group to bring down a US airliner on Dec. 25 last year. Several intelligence and administration officials confirmed to reporters that Clapper would be nominated yesterday as the director of national intelligence (DNI), including one defense official who said he enjoys strong backing from US Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
The post was introduced after Sept. 11, 2001, amid deep congressional concern over the systemic lapses which led to the terrorist attacks on the US and then the botched intelligence over Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction which helped prod the US invasion of Iraq but which were never found.
The DNI oversees the 16 agencies that make up the US intelligence community, including the CIA and the National Security Agency. Clapper is currently undersecretary of defense for intelligence, the top intelligence post at the Pentagon, as well as the director of defense intelligence, which reports directly to the DNI and therefore gives him comprehensive knowledge of the post for which he is being nominated.
If confirmed, Clapper would become the fourth DNI since the cabinet-level position’s creation five years ago. The defense official said the administration encountered some resistance initially in the US Congress over the nomination but he believes key lawmakers have come around in support. Clapper has already ruffled some feathers on Capitol Hill, with key lawmakers warning he is not transparent in his dealings with Congress.
US Senator Kit Bond, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement: “He lacks the necessary clout with the president, has proven to be less than forthcoming with Congress, and has recently blocked our efforts to empower the DNI, which is why at this time I’m not inclined to support him.”
US House intelligence committee ranking minority member Pete Hoekstra told Newsweek that Clapper would be “exactly the wrong person” for Obama to name as spy czar, because “the guy doesn’t believe there is a role for Congress” in the intelligence process.
However, US Senator Joe Lieberman, an independent who co-authored legislation in 2004 to create the position, quickly applauded Obama’s choice.
“General Clapper has vast experience in the intelligence community, has a proven record as an administrator and has always been a proponent of a strong DNI,” Lieberman said.
Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller said he believed Clapper would be “up to the task,” but strongly hinted at the scrutiny that lawmakers will pay to the nomination. Clapper retired from the US Air Force in 1995 after a 32-year career and spent much of the following years working for private defense contractors and teaching.
He has also held key intelligence positions, including serving from September 2001 to 2006 as the first civilian head of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, which collects and analyzes data from commercial and government satellites or aircraft, among other sources.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS