James Clapper served as the fourth United States Director of National Intelligence--the United States' top intelligence officer and President Obama's senior intelligence advisor--from 2010 until 2017. Beginning his career as an enlisted Marine Corps reservist in 1961, Clapper eventually became a three-star Air Force lieutenant general and director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, retiring from uniformed service in 1995. In 2001 he returned to service, becoming the first civilian director of the National Imaging and Mapping Agency just three days after 9/11. In 2007 he was appointed the Pentagon's top intelligence official, serving as an appointee for both the Bush and Obama administrations before President Obama appointed him as DNI.

 John Berman is the co-anchor of New Day" with Alisyn Camerota. He previously served as co-anchor of CNN Newsroom with Poppy Harlow, CNN's "Early Start" with Christine Romans and "At This Hour" with Kate Bolduan. Before coming to CNN, he worked at ABC News since 1995, and has appeared on television there since 2001. He was a regular contributor to all of ABC's broadcasts, including "World News with Diane Sawyer," "Good Morning America," "Nightline," "20/20" and contributed to ABCNews.com. Berman has covered stories ranging from the war in Iraq to the best way to catch catfish barehanded. He has interviewed newsmakers from Barack Obama to Lionel Richie, from the Prime Minister of Iraq to MC Hammer. From 1997 to 1999, Berman was the head writer for "World News Tonight With Peter Jennings." He traveled with Jennings to the Columbine school shooting in Colorado, and to Cuba for the pope's historic visit. He also worked with Jennings throughout the impeachment hearings of President Clinton.

When he stepped down in January 2017 as the fourth United States director of national intelligence, James Clapper had been President Obama's senior intelligence adviser for six and a half years, longer than his three predecessors combined. He led the U.S. intelligence community through a period that included the raid on Osama bin Laden, the Benghazi attack, the leaks of Edward Snowden, and Russia's influence operation during the 2016 U.S. election campaign. In Facts and Fears, Clapper traces his career through the growing threat of cyberattacks, his relationships with presidents and Congress, and the truth about Russia's role in the presidential election. He describes, in the wake of Snowden and WikiLeaks, his efforts to make intelligence more transparent and to push back against the suspicion that Americans' private lives are subject to surveillance. Finally, it was living through Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and seeing how the foundations of American democracy were--and continue to be--undermined by a foreign power that led him to break with his instincts honed through more than five decades in the intelligence profession to share his inside experience.

Clapper considers such controversial questions as, Is intelligence ethical? Is it moral to intercept communications or to photograph closed societies from orbit? What are the limits of what we should be allowed to do? What protections should we give to the private citizens of the world, not to mention our fellow Americans? Are there times when intelligence officers can lose credibility as unbiased reporters of hard truths by inserting themselves into policy decisions?

Facts and Fears offers a privileged look inside the U.S. intelligence community and, with the frankness and professionalism for which James Clapper is known, addresses some of the most difficult challenges in our nation's history.