James Clapper, the man nominated to head the US spy community, told US senators on Tuesday that he fears a period of “direct attacks” by North Korea on its southern neighbor.
Clapper testified on Tuesday before senators who must confirm his nomination as director of national intelligence (DNI) — a post intended to coordinate the sprawling and often inefficient US intelligence bureaucracy.
In a written response to questions from members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Clapper said he fears new violence on the Korean peninsula.
South Korea, the US and other nations accuse the North of sending a submarine to torpedo a South Korean navy corvette near the tense Yellow Sea border in March.
The North denies involvement in the sinking, which claimed 46 lives, and says any retaliation could spark war.
“The most important lesson for all of us in the intelligence community from this year’s provocations by Pyongyang is to realize that we may be entering a dangerous new period when North Korea will once again attempt to advance its internal and external political goals through direct attacks on our allies in the Republic of Korea,” Clapper wrote. “Coupled with this is a renewed realization that North Korea’s military forces pose a threat that cannot be taken lightly.”
Clapper, who currently serves as US Defense Secretary Robert Gates’s top intelligence adviser and as the Pentagon’s liaison to the Director of National Intelligence, knows the region well — he was posted in South Korea in the 1980s.
Clapper faced members of the Intelligence Committee on Tuesday for a public hearing in which he pledged to wield strong leadership over the 16 agencies that fall under the DNI’s purview.
He is the fourth nominee in five years to the post, which has been criticized as an ineffectual office lacking either the mandate or the will to corral a bureaucracy that plays a crucial role in keeping Americans safe.
“I would not have agreed to take this position on if I were to be a titular figurehead or a hood ornament,” Clapper said.
He told lawmakers the DNI’s office already has “the explicit or implicit authority” to oversee the agencies that fall under its purview.
“There needs to be a clear, defined and identifiable leader of the intelligence community,” Clapper said, adding that he would seek to “push the envelope” in terms of the DNI’s authority.
Committee chair Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, emphasized that the post requires a strong leader who “must assure coordination between intelligence agencies to eliminate duplication and improve information sharing.”
Obama tapped Clapper, a retired Air Force general and veteran of US spy efforts, to replace retired US Navy Admiral Dennis Blair, who left after 16 months on the job.
Blair quit after a string of high-profile security lapses including the failure to detect a Christmas Day airline bomb plot.
If confirmed Clapper would be the latest in a string of officials who have attempted to improve coordination between 16 US intelligence agencies, which employ an estimated 200,000 people and have a combined budget of about US$75 billion.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese