Innovations & technologies

Clapper: Technology will affect national security

While many consider rapid technological change to be a positive development, technology also can lead to vulnerabilities. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said “it’s difficult to predict how technology will affect national security [in] tech areas like artificial intelligence, health care and agriculture.” 

Speaking at the 2016 Intelligence and National Security Summit in Washington on Sept. 7, Clapper noted how the biggest taxi and hotel companies in the world do not own any cars or property, a reference to Uber and Airbnb, respectively. These technologies and changes, he said, have the potential to revolutionize our lives for the better or create vulnerabilities. 

A recent study published by the RAND corporation chronicled the disruptive nature technology developed in the commercial world -- and thus available to any hacker, activist or government -- will have on U.S. soldiers and intelligence operators deployed to urban battlefields.