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Daniel Coats, director of national intelligence (standing), spoke with students and faculty at BU\u2019s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies on September 29. Photos by Jackie Ricciardi.<\/em><\/p>\n The man responsible for briefing President Donald Trump daily on national and global security issues told an audience at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies Friday that he doesn\u2019t sugarcoat the facts.<\/p>\n Whether the topic is Russia, North Korea, or a homegrown security threat,\u00a0Dan Coats<\/a>, director of national intelligence,<\/span>\u00a0said his job is to give the president an impartial viewpoint.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to stick with the facts, because it\u2019s very easy to become politicized,\u201d Coats said. \u201cI\u2019ve got to be very careful, because I\u2019ve had a lifetime of policy-shaping.\u201d<\/p>\n A former Republican congressman and senator from Indiana, with a reputation as a moderate conservative, Coats had been US ambassador to Germany from 2001 to 2005 under President George W. Bush. He was named to his current cabinet post in March. Coats told the audience that his role now is a big one, involving coordinating intelligence from 16 government agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, and the State Department, to ensure that the president has an up to-the-moment view of any threats to national security.<\/p>\n He said that the volume of threats to the country\u2019s national security is not the only concern, but it\u2019s their diversity was as well: from cybersecurity to problems in Russia and the Middle East to a potential nuclear missile launch by North Korea. He told listeners that his meetings with the president have recently started to take 45 minutes to an hour, not the 12 to 15 minutes typically budgeted.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously North Korea is occupying a lot of time in the Oval Office,\u201d Coats said.<\/p>\n Without citing details, he did say he has been in the intimidating position of having to give the president information he may not like or want to hear. Trump \u201chas been fully accepting of that,\u201d he noted, taking in a lot of information, asking questions, and holding his security advisors accountable. (The CIA director, the vice president, and the national security advisor also usually attend the daily briefings.)<\/p>\n No stranger to crisis situations, Coats had been on the job as ambassador to Germany just days when the terrorist attacks of 9\/11 occurred. While living in Berlin, he and his wife had come to know\u00a0Joseph Wippl<\/a>, then a CIA officer and now a Pardee School of Global Studies and College of Arts & Sciences professor of the practice of international relations.<\/p>\n Wippl said he invited Coats to speak with students enrolled in two of his seminars, Intelligence, Congress and National Security and Strategic Problems in Intelligence, because of his rich experience and informed insights.<\/p>\n \u201cNo one has ever done all those things,\u201d Wippl said of Coats\u2019 experience as a diplomat, politician, and top national security expert. \u201cWe often talk about public service. Well, he\u2019s done it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to stick with the facts, because it\u2019s very easy to become politicized,\u201d Coats told Pardee students and faculty.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n As part of his new role, Coats is responsible for overseeing the intelligence agencies that are examining Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Just three years ago, he himself was banned from Russia by officials at the Kremlin in retaliation for his support for a series of US sanctions against Moscow after it annexed the Crimea region of Ukraine.<\/p>\n Coats is the fifth person to hold the director of national intelligence position, created at the recommendation of the\u00a09\/11 Commission Report<\/a>, which found inadequate sharing of intelligence between national security agencies to identify potential threats to US security.<\/p>\n Trump had advocated eliminating or reducing the power of the national intelligence director during his campaign and in the early days of his presidency. Coats said he made it clear to the president when he accepted the role that getting the best, most accurate, and timely information would be his mission, and he told Trump early on in his tenure that the information would not be politically distorted.<\/p>\n \u201cIt helps to have been around a while. I have no interest in building a career or positioning myself for another role,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve tried to retire three times.\u201d<\/p>\n\n![\"portrait_995x664_17-1784-COATS-008\"](\"\/federal\/files\/2017\/10\/portrait_995x664_17-1784-COATS-008.jpg\")
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