Director of National Intelligence James Clapper Resigns
For months, James Clapper—the nation’s top spy—has been literally counting down the days until he leaves office. Some mornings when he briefs the president, he’ll even do a fist-bump with Barack Obama after telling him the precise number of days left, Clapper told WIRED in an exclusive interview.
Today, the director of national intelligence told a congressional committee that he’s made his departure official with his boss in the Oval Office: “[I] submitted my letter of resignation last night, which felt pretty good,” he told the House intelligence committee. “I have 64 days left, and I’d have a pretty hard time with my wife going past that.”
Clapper’s resignation was widely anticipated, since the relatively new position of DNI is seen as a political appointment as the president’s top intelligence adviser. Even though incoming president-elect Donald Trump has openly criticized—and clashed with—the intelligence community during this year’s campaign, Clapper’s staff was quick to caution that the move was not meant as a rebuke to the election results.
