President Obama nominates Air Force Lt. General James Clapper new DNI Chief

President Obama had to make several key nominations, that actually began even before the beginning of his term. After nominating a few court justices only within the first two years of office, he now has made his choice for the new director of national intelligence. His name is Air Force Lt. General James Clapper. The President said "He possesses a quality that I value in all my advisers, a willingness to tell leaders what we need to know, even if it's not what we want to hear," said Obama. He made the announcement in the Rose Garden with Clapper on Saturday.


Actually in retirmement from the Air Force after 35 years, he was involved with National Geospatial-Intelligence from September of 2001, through June of 2006.

He replaced Dennis Blair who resigned in May. He still must go through a confirmation hearing, and his appointment would be the forth DNI in the last 5 years.

He has gone through the nomination process 4 times in the past with almost no objection, and was voted overwhelmingly into office on all occasions, but due to the lackluster of the politicians in Washington at the present time, it wouldn't be far fetched to see him seriously questioned by the conservative side of the House. Some of the Senators, like Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Kit Bond has some reservations about him. In a statement Kit Bond said "I believe he is too focused on the Defense Department issues and he has tried to block out efforts to give more authority to the DNI," Bond argued.

So regardless of how much experience you have, allot of it depends on the time and the state of things at that time. Another flaw that some say he may have is that he is "not forthcoming, open or transparent" with Congress.