Intel officials reveal the greatest threats to US national security

Russia and China remain the greatest threats to US security, ISIS has not been defeated and North Korea is unlikely to abandon its nuclear weapons program, the nation’s top intelligence official said Tuesday.

Russia and China are locked in “a race for technological and military superiority” over the US, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told the Senate Intelligence Committee during a grim update on world threats with CIA Director Gina Haspel, FBI Director Christopher Wray and other top intel officials.

The two adversaries “are more aligned than at any point since the mid-1950s,” Coats said, a stark reference to the Cold War era.

More broadly, the intelligence report on which Coats based his testimony, the Worldwide Threat Assessment, predicted that security threats to the US and its allies this year would expand and diversify, driven in part by China and Russia.

Coats also told the committee that Russia and perhaps other countries were likely to attempt to use social media and other means to influence the 2020 presidential election.

“Our adversaries and strategic competitors probably already are looking to the 2020 US elections as an opportunity to advance their interests,” the intelligence report said.

“We expect our adversaries and strategic competitors to refine their capabilities and add new tactics as they learn from each other’s experiences, suggesting the threat landscape could look very different in 2020 and future elections,” it continued.

“Russia’s social media efforts will continue to focus on aggravating social and racial tensions, undermining trust in authorities, and criticizing perceived anti-Russia politicians,” it said.

“Moscow may employ additional influence toolkits — such as spreading disinformation, conducting hack-and-leak operations, or manipulating data — in a more targeted fashion to influence US policy, actions, and elections.”

And despite repeated claims from Team Trump that ISIS had been rubbed out, the report said the terror group “very likely will continue to pursue external attacks from Iraq and Syria against regional and Western adversaries, including the United States.”

It also stated that with the recent loss of territory, “ISIS will seek to exploit Sunni grievances, societal instability, and stretched security forces to regain territory in Iraq and Syria in the long term.”

Coats told committee members that ISIS “has returned to its guerrilla warfare roots while continuing to plot attacks and direct its supporters worldwide” and that “ISIS is intent on resurging and still commands thousands of fighters in Iraq and Syria.”

With the expected withdrawal of US forces from Syria, the US intelligence assessment is that the regime of strongman Bashar al Assad will not focus on clearing ISIS from Syria.

“The regime is unlikely to immediately focus on clearing ISIS from remote areas that do not threaten key military, economic, and transportation infrastructure, judging from previous regime counter-ISIS efforts,” according to the report.

Coats also cast doubt on President Trump’s declaration that North Korea no longer posed a nuclear threat to the US as a result of his historic summit with dictator Kim Jong Un, declaring that the North was unlikely to entirely dismantle its nuclear arsenal.

Coats noted that Kim has expressed support for ridding the Korean peninsula of nuclear weapons and has not recently test fired a nuclear-capable missile or conducted a nuclear test.

“Having said that, we currently assess that North Korea will seek to retain its WMD capabilities and is unlikely to completely give up its nuclear weapons and production capability because its leaders ultimately view nuclear weapons as critical to regime survival,” Coats said in his opening statement.

“Our assessment is bolstered by our observations of some activity that is inconsistent with full denuclearization,” he added.

This skepticism about North Korea is consistent with the intelligence agencies’ views over many years.

Plans for a follow-up summit are in the works but no agenda, venue or date has been announced.

Coats also warned on Tuesday of economic disruptions if Britain leaves the European Union without a deal.

“This would cause economic disruptions that could substantially weaken the UK and Europe,” Coats said.

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