ANDERSON — Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper spoke to Anderson University students and community members Wednesday about dangers facing the nation, both internally and internationally.
Clapper, a Fort Wayne native, met with international studies and homeland security students in a round table and presented a free public lecture in York Performance Hall at Anderson University.
The retired Air Force lieutenant general, who is known as an outspoken critic of President Donald J. Trump, called him out for failing to reprimand Russian President Vladimir Putin for attempts to undermine the American presidential election.
“His refusal to call out Russia for what they are doing is a peril to this country,” Clapper told students. “What’s required is … leadership from one person, and that’s the president.”
The long-service intelligence official’s visit comes on the heels of last week’s revelation that data firm Cambridge Analytica, a UK-based data mining firm that worked for Donald Trump’s campaign, now stands accused of lifting data from some 50 million Facebook users for the purpose of influencing voters.
Clapper said the revelation strengthened his long-held belief that social media, much like nearly all other forms of media, should be regulated, equating it to the way television is regulated by the FCC.
He also slammed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for his “disingenuous” reaction to the scandal.
“Who the hell does he think he is?” he said of the social media pioneer.
Clapper drew criticism in 2013 after Edward Snowden leaked classified documents that showed the National Security Agency spied on American citizens by collecting metadata from telephone calls. Some lawmakers were unhappy about what they viewed as perjury after Clapper allegedly said in a congressional committee hearing that the NSA did not collect such data.
Speaking with students, Clapper questioned the reactions of the American public to the Snowden leaks and the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
“There was all this fallout of the NSA and surrounding cases, but people don’t seem to care that these social media companies are taking your data and giving it away,” he said.
Clapper is one of several federal dignitaries AU President John Pistole, a former administrator of the United States Transportation Security Administration and a former deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has brought to campus over the past couple of years. Other visitors have included former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey, former FBI director and current Special Counsel Robert Mueller and former Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan.
The Anderson University National Security Studies Fellows is responsible for bringing Clapper to campus.
The National Security Studies Fellows connects students to professionals with current or recent experience in national security who visit campus, network with students, and provide insight to classroom study. Past speakers have included Mueller and Eric Holder, former U.S. attorney general.