Director
National Imagery and Mapping Agency, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
September 2001–July 2006

Lt. Gen. James R. Clapper, U.S. Air Force (Ret.), was appointed as the third director of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency in September 2001.

Lt. Gen. Clapper was the first civilian director of NIMA. At his direction, the agency began to use the term “geospatial intelligence” and corresponding acronym “GEOINT” to identify one primary intelligence discipline for the agency. He was responsible for driving the agency’s name change to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. He remained director when NIMA became NGA in November 2003 and served at NGA until June 2006. 

Prior to his appointment, Lt. Gen. Clapper served two combat tours in Southeast Asia conflict and flew 73 combat support missions in EC-47s over Laos and Cambodia. His U.S. Air Force assignments included a variety of intelligence-related positions such as assistant chief of staff, Intelligence, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and as director of Intelligence for three warfighting commands: United States Forces, Korea; Pacific Command; and Strategic Air Command. Lt. Gen. Clapper’s last military assignment was as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. He retired as a lieutenant general from the U.S. Air Force in 1995 after a thirty two-year career. 

In April, 2007, Lt. Gen. Clapper was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the undersecretary of defense for Intelligence. He was the principal staff assistant and advisor to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense regarding intelligence, counterintelligence, and security matters. He also served as the director of Defense Intelligence, reporting directly to the Director of National Intelligence as his principal advisor regarding defense intelligence matters. 

From August, 2010, to January, 2017, Lt. Gen. Clapper served as the fourth U.S. Director of National Intelligence. In this position, he led the United States Intelligence Community and served as the principal intelligence advisor to President Barack Obama.

Lt. Gen. Clapper earned a bachelor’s degree in government and politics from the University of Maryland; a master’s degree in political science from St. Mary’s University, San Antonio, Texas; and an honorary doctorate in strategic intelligence from the Joint Military Intelligence College. 

Lt. Gen. Clapper’s military awards include the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, Defense Distinguished Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal and other U.S. military and foreign government awards and decorations. 

Lt. Gen. Clapper was inducted into the GEOINT Hall of Fame in 2007.