President's top intelligence adviser, James Clapper, comes to UNC

James R. Clapper, director of National Intelligence, discussed issues surrounding presidential transitions and problems managing intelligence in an unpredictable society at UNC on Tuesday.

The event was held in the Koury Auditorium at the Kenan-Flagler Business School by the Peace, War and Defense department.

Clapper, who is the principal intelligence adviser to the president, began by discussing challenges associated with presidential turnover — which was prominent when Harry Truman assumed office.

Clapper said Truman wanted his successors to be better prepared than he was because Truman knew nothing of the existence of the Manhattan Project, despite being vice president to Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Because of Truman, each major party presidential nominee now receives selected daily briefings on intelligence information, Clapper said.

“The day after the election, the briefing process I just described changes,” he said.

Clapper said the president-elect will then receive President Barack Obama’s brief.

“I’m glad (Truman) made that generous decision to better prepare his successors,” he said.

After Clapper finished discussing the beginning of presidential transitions, he shifted to modern problems facing intelligence.

Clapper said the internet has fundamentally changed the work of the intelligence community by creating an unpredictable environment.

“If we can’t predict what will happen, why do we conduct intelligence at all?” Clapper said.

For Clapper, the answer is simple.

“We conduct intelligence at its most basic level to reduce uncertainty for our decision makers,” he said.

Despite the unpredictability of contemporary times, Clapper said more intelligence information should be declassified, because the support of the people is necessary in order to gather good intelligence.

An audience member questioned Clapper about the threat of state-sponsored cyber attacks like the alleged Russian hacks of the Democratic National Committee.

Clapper said particularly when it comes to elections, hacking is a great concern, but decentralized voting is a safeguard in the U.S.

Clapper ended his discussion by encouraging the audience to become members of the intelligence community, which some students responded to positively.

Jeremy Cleary, a UNC junior, said his professor emailed him about the event, and he thought it would be an interesting opportunity.

“I thought it’d be cool to hear a first-hand account of someone with so much experience and who’s worked so closely with the president,” he said.

Kayla Boykins, a UNC sophomore, said she agreed with some of Clapper’s assessments of the secretive nature of the intelligence community.

“I liked his point of how intelligence needs to be more transparent,” she said.

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