Clapper Vs. Trump: Intel Agencies ‘Even More Resolute’ That Russia Meddled In Elections

Clapper Vs. Trump: Intel Agencies ‘Even More Resolute’ That Russia Meddled In Elections
Clapper Vs. Trump: Intel Agencies ‘Even More Resolute’ That Russia Meddled In Elections

WASHINGTON: The day before intelligence analysts brief a skeptical Donald Trump on Russian interference with the 2016 elections, the Director of National Intelligence told supportive senators that he had only grown more confident the Kremlin was the culprit. DNI James Clapper not only repeated his assessment that Russia had tried to manipulate the election with…

Major NRO Spy Program Behind Schedule: DNRO Sapp

Major NRO Spy Program Behind Schedule: DNRO Sapp
Major NRO Spy Program Behind Schedule: DNRO Sapp

WASHINGTON: America’s spy satellite maker and operator, the National Reconnaissance Office, has one major satellite program at risk of not meeting its cost and schedule requirements, its director Betty Sapp says. In a rare moment of transparency, Sapp answered my question about the status of the agency’s programs at the Intelligence and National Security Summit…

Rep. Nunes Knocks DNI ‘Bureaucracy’; Schiff Calls On Obama To ID Russia For DNC Hack

Rep. Nunes Knocks DNI ‘Bureaucracy’; Schiff Calls On Obama To ID Russia For DNC Hack
Rep. Nunes Knocks DNI ‘Bureaucracy’; Schiff Calls On Obama To ID Russia For DNC Hack

WASHINGTON: The persistent grumbles from the CIA and other bastions of the Intelligence Community that the Director of National Intelligence is just an unneeded layer of bureaucracy has caught the ear of House Intelligence chairman Rep. Devin Nunes. He promised to try and pass legislation to change this but admitted it would be “tough” to get…

Trump, Clinton Do Not Get PDB; DNI Stresses Intel Community Not Political

Trump, Clinton Do Not Get PDB; DNI Stresses Intel Community Not Political
Trump, Clinton Do Not Get PDB; DNI Stresses Intel Community Not Political

WASHINGTON: In the face of a lot of what he called “catastrophizing” about the “very volatile time for the country” known as the presidential transition, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper offers a simple message: “It’ll be OK.” Of course, that reassurance came after Clapper outlined the dark precautions that are taken on Inauguration Day, including the designation of…

DNI Clapper: Stop Combating ‘Vending Machines, Hearing Aids’

GEOINT: If you’re not an American citizen and you walk the halls of CIA headquarters and other U.S. intelligence agencies, lights flash alerting workers that a foreign national is walking by so that any secrets on their screens or desks can be protected from prying eyes. The main reason for this is that much intelligence is…

SecDef: JICSPOC Means ‘One Room, One Floor’ For Intel & Military

SecDef: JICSPOC Means ‘One Room, One Floor’ For Intel & Military
SecDef: JICSPOC Means ‘One Room, One Floor’ For Intel & Military

SCHRIEVER AIR FORCE BASE: Defense Secretary Ash Carter, who spent five years pushing the National Reconnaissance Office and the military to work more closely together, saw the effects today during a tour of the JICSPOC, the experimental effort to improve battle management of America’s satellites. Inside the heavily guarded secure facility where most of America’s satellites are flown and…

‘Everything We Can Do For Our French Counterparts We Are Doing:’ NGA Head

‘Everything We Can Do For Our French Counterparts We Are Doing:’ NGA Head
‘Everything We Can Do For Our French Counterparts We Are Doing:’ NGA Head

NGA HEADQUARTERS: If you want further proof of the damage that Edward Snowden has wrought on American intelligence capabilities, look at the relative ease with which the Paris terrorists planned, traveled and killed in Europe. “The adversary has gone and is going to school against our capabilities,” NGA Director Robert Cardillo told reporters here today.…

DNI, NSA Seek Offensive Cyber Clarity; OPM Not An ‘Attack’

DNI, NSA Seek Offensive Cyber Clarity; OPM Not An ‘Attack’
DNI, NSA Seek Offensive Cyber Clarity; OPM Not An ‘Attack’

WASHINGTON: No one really knows what they’re doing in cyberspace: It’s all too new and it changes too fast. So it was refreshing — if unnerving — for two top intelligence officials to admit this morning that the US government’s lack of clarity makes it more difficult both to deter adversaries’ cyber operations and to conduct…

DNI Clapper IDs China As ‘The Leading Suspect’ In OPM Hacks; Russia ‘More Subtle’

DNI Clapper IDs China As ‘The Leading Suspect’ In OPM Hacks; Russia ‘More Subtle’
DNI Clapper IDs China As ‘The Leading Suspect’ In OPM Hacks; Russia ‘More Subtle’

GEOINT: Director of National Intelligence James Clapper identified China today as “the leading suspect” in the two sweeping hacks of the Office of Personnel Management, one day after NSA Director Adm. Mike Rogers dodged the issue. In Clapper’s first answer to a question about who is responsible for the OPM hacks, he laid the blame squarely on China. “On the…

McCain Points To ‘Dramatic Change’ In Chinese-Built Islands

McCain Points To ‘Dramatic Change’ In Chinese-Built Islands
McCain Points To ‘Dramatic Change’ In Chinese-Built Islands

WASHINGTON: What began with a tiny artificial island built by China to stake a concrete claim in the South China Sea is fast on its way to becoming 600 acres of at least seven islands spread across the South China Sea. One of the most impressive is so-called Fiery Cross Island, the permanent structure above complete with…

Clapper, Kerry Plane Delays A Non-Story; Air Force Just Being Careful

Clapper, Kerry Plane Delays A Non-Story; Air Force Just Being Careful
Clapper, Kerry Plane Delays A Non-Story; Air Force Just Being Careful

PENTAGON: When the the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, was delayed by a day-and-a-half on his mission to secure the release of the two American hostages in North Korea because his plane wasn’t ready to fly, it sounded like a pretty good story. Combine it with recent problems with Secretary of State John Kerry’s aircraft and…

Tish Long Leaving NGA; DNI’s Robert Cardillo Will Be New Director

Tish Long Leaving NGA; DNI’s Robert Cardillo Will Be New Director
Tish Long Leaving NGA; DNI’s Robert Cardillo Will Be New Director

UPDATED: With DNI Clapper’s Comments WASHINGTON: Robert Cardillo, the man who has organized President Obama’s daily intelligence briefing and brought the first tablet to the White House for a president to see intelligence product firsthand, will be named the new director of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency. Cardillo, the current Deputy Director of National Intelligence for…

DNI Clapper Teases ‘Revolutionary’ Intel Future; Big Cost Savings From Cutting Contractors

DNI Clapper Teases ‘Revolutionary’ Intel Future; Big Cost Savings From Cutting Contractors
DNI Clapper Teases ‘Revolutionary’ Intel Future; Big Cost Savings From Cutting Contractors

COLORADO SPRINGS: The intelligence community is on the verge of “revolutionary” technical advances. Spy satellites and other systems will be able to watch a place or a person for long periods of time and warn intelligence analysts and operatives when target changes its behavior. Satellites and their sensors could be redirected automatically to ensure nothing is missed. “We will…

Inside The President’s Daily Briefing; DNI Moves With Care To Tablets

Inside The President’s Daily Briefing; DNI Moves With Care To Tablets
Inside The President’s Daily Briefing; DNI Moves With Care To Tablets

TAMPA: The conventional image of an American president managing a crisis shows him thumbing through a briefing book on a desk in the Situation Room or Oval Office. The new standard may well become that of a president with an iPad in his lap or on his desk, keenly watching a video or flipping through…