Richard A. Clarke facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Dick Clarke
10th Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs
In office August 8, 1989 – July 10, 1992
President	George H. W. Bush
Preceded by	H. Allen Holmes
Succeeded by	Robert Gallucci
Personal details
Born	Richard Alan Clarke (1950-10-27) October 27, 1950 (age 74) Dorchester, Massachusetts, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Education	University of Pennsylvania (BA) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MSM)

Richard Alan Clarke, born on October 27, 1950, is an American expert in national security. He is also a writer and a former government official. He is best known for his role as the main advisor on fighting terrorism for the United States government. This role was called the National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counter-Terrorism. He held this position from 1998 to 2003.

Clarke started his career working for the State Department during President Ronald Reagan's time. In 1992, President George H. W. Bush chose him to lead a group focused on counter-terrorism. He also joined the United States National Security Council, which advises the president on security matters. President Bill Clinton kept Clarke in his role and later promoted him in 1998.

When President George W. Bush took office, Clarke continued in his counter-terrorism role. He later became a special advisor to the President on cybersecurity, which is about protecting computer systems from attacks. Clarke left the Bush administration in 2003. He became widely known in 2004 when he shared his experiences in a book called Against All Enemies. He also spoke to the 9/11 Commission, which investigated the September 11, 2001, attacks.

After leaving the government, Clarke helped the United Arab Emirates set up a cyber security team. This team was designed to protect their country's computer systems.

Early Life and Education

Richard Clarke was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1950. His father worked in a chocolate factory, and his mother was a nurse. He went to Boston Latin School and graduated in 1968.

He then attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1972. After college, he started working at the U.S. Department of Defense. He later went to graduate school and earned a master's degree in management in 1978 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Working for the Government

In 1973, Clarke began his career in the federal government at the United States Department of Defense. He worked on many different defense topics there.

From 1979 to 1985, he worked at the Department of State. In 1985, President Ronald Reagan appointed him as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence. This was his first political appointment.

During President George H. W. Bush's time, Clarke became the Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs. He helped coordinate diplomatic efforts during the Gulf War in 1990–1991.

President Bill Clinton kept Clarke in his administration. In 1998, Clinton appointed him as the National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counter-terrorism. In this important role, he had direct access to the president.

Clarke continued as the counter-terrorism coordinator during the first year of President George W. Bush's administration. However, his role changed, and he no longer had direct access to the president. In 2001, he became the Special Advisor to the President on cybersecurity and cyberterrorism. He left the Bush administration in early 2003.

Clarke held several important positions in the government, including:

• United States Department of State (1985–1992)
  • Assistant Secretary of State for Politico-Military Affairs (1989–1992)
  • Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence (1985–1988)
• United States National Security Council (1992–2003)
  • Special Advisor (2001–2003)
  • National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counter-terrorism (1998–2001)
  • Chairman of the Counter-terrorism Security Group (1992–2003)

During the Clinton Administration

During the Rwandan genocide in 1994, Clarke advised Madeleine Albright, who was the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. He suggested asking the UN to remove all its troops from Rwanda. However, she disagreed and allowed a small number of UN troops to stay. These troops helped save many lives.

Clarke was also involved in the investigation of Ramzi Yousef. Yousef was one of the main people behind the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

Operation Orient Express

In 1996, Clarke was part of a secret plan with Madeleine Albright and others. Their goal was to prevent Boutros Boutros-Ghali from being re-elected as the U.N. Secretary-General. They called this plan "Operation Orient Express." Even though other countries supported Boutros-Ghali, the U.S. continued to oppose him. After several meetings, Boutros-Ghali decided not to run again. This led to Kofi Annan becoming the next Secretary-General.

During the Bush Administration

On April 8, 2004, Condoleezza Rice, who was the National Security Advisor, spoke to the 9/11 investigatory commission. She talked about Clarke and his warnings to the Bush administration about the al-Qaeda threat. Clarke had written a memo in January 2001, asking for an urgent meeting to discuss the growing al-Qaeda threat.

In his book, Clarke wrote that Condoleezza Rice decided to reduce the importance of his counterterrorism role. He believed this sent a message that terrorism was less important. His memos no longer went directly to the President.

The 9/11 Commission reported that Clarke asked for early meetings on these issues several times. However, no high-level meetings about al-Qaeda were held until September 4, 2001.

At a meeting in April 2001, Clarke strongly suggested that the U.S. pressure the Taliban and al-Qaeda. He also said the U.S. should target Osama bin Laden. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz questioned why they were focusing on just one person, bin Laden. Clarke explained that bin Laden's network was a serious threat to the United States.

Clarke wrote that in the summer of 2001, intelligence agencies were sure an attack by al-Qaeda was coming. However, he felt the highest levels of the Bush administration were not paying enough attention. At a White House meeting on July 5, 2001, Clarke warned that "something really spectacular is going to happen here, and it's going to happen soon."

Cyberterrorism and Cybersecurity Focus

In 2001, Clarke was appointed Special Advisor to the President on Cybersecurity. He spent his last year in the Bush administration focusing on protecting the United States' important computer systems from cyberattacks. At a security conference in 2002, Clarke famously said, "If you spend more on coffee than on IT security, then you will be hacked. What's more, you deserve to be hacked."

9/11 Commission Testimony

On March 24, 2004, Clarke testified at the public 9/11 Commission hearings. He apologized to the families of 9/11 victims, saying that the government had failed them.

Clarke's testimony matched what he wrote in his book. He said that before and during the 9/11 crisis, many in the administration were focused on Iraq and Saddam Hussein. This focus distracted them from taking action against al-Qaeda. Clarke wrote that after the September 11 attacks, President Bush asked him to find evidence linking Saddam Hussein to the attacks. Clarke wrote a report stating there was no such evidence, and all agencies agreed.

Discussions and Debates

After Clarke's testimony, some people questioned his statements. They suggested he was seeking attention or had political reasons for his views. However, others, like The New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, called these criticisms "a campaign of character assassination."

Some Republicans questioned Clarke's testimony. Senate Republican Majority Leader Bill Frist suggested Clarke had told "two entirely different stories under oath." Clarke explained that he was asked to present the administration's positive actions in 2002. He said that as a special assistant, he was often asked to highlight positive aspects and minimize negative ones.

Another point of discussion was Clarke's role in allowing members of the bin Laden family to fly to Saudi Arabia shortly after September 11, 2001. Clarke testified that he passed the request to the FBI, which approved the flight. However, an FBI spokesman denied the FBI had a role in approving these flights.

After Government Service

Today, Richard Clarke is the Chairman of Good Harbor Consulting and Good Harbour International. These companies help with strategic planning and managing risks for businesses. He also works as a consultant for ABC News and writes for the Good Harbor Report, an online community that discusses homeland security and politics. He teaches at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Clarke has written several books, including novels and non-fiction works. In April 2010, he released his book Cyber War, which discusses the next threats to national security from cyberattacks. In 2012, he wrote an article for The New York Times about how to stop cyberattacks from foreign governments.

In September 2012, Clarke stated that governments in the Middle East were likely behind hacking incidents against several banks. He also supported Barack Obama's re-election as President in 2012.

In 2013, Clarke was part of an advisory group for the Obama administration. This group looked at ways to improve NSA spying programs after documents were released by Edward Snowden. In 2017, Clarke warned that Russia would likely try to interfere with U.S. elections again, as vulnerabilities from the 2016 election still existed.

As of August 2017, Clarke had helped the Middle East Institute receive significant funding from an Abu Dhabi-based organization. In August 2021, Clarke joined the advisory board of Clearview AI, a company that uses facial recognition technology.

Books and Writings

• Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror—What Really Happened (2004). This non-fiction book discusses how past and present governments handled the war on terror.
• Defeating the Jihadists: A Blueprint for Action (2004). This non-fiction book shares Clarke's ideas for a more effective U.S. counterterrorism policy.
• The Scorpion's Gate (2005). A novel.
• Breakpoint (2007). A novel.
• Your Government Failed You: Breaking the Cycle of National Security Disasters (2008). A non-fiction book.
• Cyber War: The Next Threat to National Security and What to Do About It (2010), with Robert K. Knake. This non-fiction book explores cyber threats.
• "How China Steals Our Secrets" (2012) The New York Times. An opinion piece.
• Sting of the Drone (2014). A novel.
• Pinnacle Event (2015). A novel.
• Warnings: Finding Cassandras to Stop Catastrophes (2017), with R. P. Eddy. A non-fiction book.
• The Fifth Domain: Defending Our Country, Our Companies, and Ourselves in the Age of Cyber Threats (2019), with Robert K. Knake. A non-fiction book.
• Hostile State Disinformation in the Internet Age (2024). Daedalus. An essay.

See also

In Spanish: Richard A. Clarke para niños