Post by SA Hunter on Feb 10, 2016 20:49:06 GMT 10
www.adelaidenow.com.au/technology/us-intelligence-officials-identify-three-greatest-threats-to-the-world-right-now/news-story/df135ad7ee1c5d5fb0132582564e93cc
US intelligence officials identify three greatest threats to the world right now
THE three greatest threats to the world right now have been identified overnight by US intelligence chiefs and if they are to be believed, 2016 is shaping up to be one of the most perilous in human history.
US National Intelligence Director James Clapper and other officials warned an attack by Islamic State on US soil was imminent, that North Korea now had the capability to produce up to 100 nuclear bombs and that Russian and Chinese hackers could dismantle critical defence, supply and information networks and were in fact already starting to do this.
Mr Clapper was testifying at Capitol Hill following the release of his department’s shocking ‘Worldwide Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community’ report, which has nothing good to say about the current state of global security and the prospect of world peace.
Here are the biggest dangers facing us in 2016 as outlined in this terrifying report and described to Congress by spy chiefs.
GLOBAL THREAT NUMBER ONE — ISIS
In testimony before congressional committees last night (Australian time), Mr Clapper described ISIS as the “pre-eminent terrorist threat”, a determined militant group which could “direct and inspire attacks against a wide range of targets around the world”.
Defense Intelligence Agency Director, Marine Lieutenant General Vincent Stewart, predicted a more hands-on approach by ISIS, warning it “will probably attempt to conduct additional attacks in Europe, and attempt to direct attacks on the US homeland in 2016”.
ISIS was determined to overcome the logistic challenges of mounting such an attack, he said, adding that intelligence agencies believe the group’s leaders will be “increasingly involved in directing attacks rather than just encouraging lone attackers”.
Mr Clapper said violent extremists were active in about 40 countries and that there were currently more terrorist safe havens “than at any time in history”.
The ‘Worldwide Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community’ report identifies ISIS and its eight branches as “number one terrorist threat”. It warns the group has infiltrated the worldwide refugee exodus, inserting operatives into the “torrent of migrants” and using that flow to reach other countries.
Mr Clapper also made reference to reports that ISIS fighters had seized Syrian passport facilities with machines capable of manufacturing passports “so they can travel ostensibly as legitimate travellers”.
The assessment notes that “approximately five dozen” individuals with links to the ISIS and other extremist groups were arrested in the US last year.
More than 38,200 foreign fighters, including at least 6900 from Western countries, have travelled to Syria from more than 100 countries since 2012.
On the progress of the allied campaign in Iraq and Syria, Mr Stewart said it was unlikely the strategically important Iraqi city of Mosul would be liberated in 2016.
As if all that wasn’t bad enough, al-Qaeda, and its affiliates were also set to make gains this year, with the group’s Yemen-based Arabian Peninsula branch and the Syria-based al-Nusra Front going from strength to strength.
GLOBAL THREAT NUMBER TWO — CYBER-ESPIONAGE
The world has already witnessed countless examples of the damage hackers are capable of, whether it’s leaking classified military information, or bringing down a Hollywood production company.
Mr Clapper said cyber-espionage continued to pose a major risk to the governments of the world and warned that ISIS was developing a similar capability.
Specifically, Russian and Chinese hackers have been targeting information systems controlled by the US government and American industry. Military personnel networks, supply chains and critical information structure were vulnerable, with many having already incurred hits.
Mr Clapper said Beijing selectively used cyberattacks against targets it believed threatened Chinese domestic stability or regime legitimacy.
“We will monitor compliance with China’s September 2015 commitment to refrain from conducting or knowingly supporting cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property with the intent of providing competitive advantage to companies or commercial sectors,” he told congressional hearings last night.
Mr Clapper said North Korea “probably remains capable and willing to launch disruptive or destructive cyberattacks to support its political objectives” and that Moscow “is assuming a more assertive cyber posture” and a willingness to target critical infrastructure and carry out espionage operations.
The intelligence chief suggested Russia’s incursion into Ukraine and other “aggressive” moves around the globe are being done in part to demonstrate that it is a superpower equal to the US.
“We could be into another Cold War like-spiral,” he said.
President Barack Obama yesterday asked Congress for $3.1 billion for cybersecurity, claiming the nation’s cyber infrastructure systems were stuck in the 1960s, making them vulnerable to attacks.
“That’s going to have to change,” Mr Obama said, flanked by top national security advisers in the Roosevelt Room. “We’re going to have to play some catch-up.”
GLOBAL THREAT NUMBER THREE — NUCLEAR NORTH KOREA
This morning the world woke up to the news that North Korea had restarted its plutonium reactor in Yongbyon on the Chinese border — a facility that has not seen action since it was shut down in 2007.
US-based nuclear weapons specialists now believe Pyongyang has the capability to turn the 10 bombs in its possession into anywhere from 20 to 100 by the year 2020.
The revelations were detailed in the worldwide threat assessment and appear to substantiate fears North Korea is not only making technical advances in its nuclear weapons program, following its recent underground test explosion and rocket launch, but working to expand what is thought to be a small nuclear arsenal.
Mr Clapper told the Senate Armed Services and intelligence committees that the reactor had now been operating long enough to recover plutonium “within a matter of weeks to months”.
The intelligence chief’s testimony follows a September 2015 claim from North Korea’s state-run KCNA news agency that the Yongbyon facility was fully operational.
As North Korea’s primary nuclear facility, the spent fuel from the reactor could allow North Korea to develop one nuclear bomb a year, the report said.
On Sunday, North Korea launched a rocket carrying an Earth observation satellite into space. The launch followed a January 6 underground nuclear explosion that North Korea claimed was the successful test of a “miniaturised” hydrogen bomb.
Many outside experts were sceptical and Mr Clapper said the low yield of the test “is not consistent with a successful test of a thermonuclear device”.
He testified that Pyongyang is also committed to developing a long-range, nuclear-armed missile that is capable of posing a direct threat to the US but conceded “the system has not been flight-tested”.
Speaking on the nuclear deal with Iran, Mr Clapper said there was no evidence that Tehran was violating the terms of the agreement but said “we in the intelligence community are very much in the distrust-and-verify mode”.
The assessment warns that Iran may seek to use detained American citizens as “bargaining pieces to achieve financial or political concessions.”
With regards to Russia, Mr Clapper said “despite its economic challenges, Russia continues its aggressive military modernisation,” noting that President Vladimir Putin was “the first leader since Stalin to expand Russia’s territory”.
US intelligence officials identify three greatest threats to the world right now
THE three greatest threats to the world right now have been identified overnight by US intelligence chiefs and if they are to be believed, 2016 is shaping up to be one of the most perilous in human history.
US National Intelligence Director James Clapper and other officials warned an attack by Islamic State on US soil was imminent, that North Korea now had the capability to produce up to 100 nuclear bombs and that Russian and Chinese hackers could dismantle critical defence, supply and information networks and were in fact already starting to do this.
Mr Clapper was testifying at Capitol Hill following the release of his department’s shocking ‘Worldwide Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community’ report, which has nothing good to say about the current state of global security and the prospect of world peace.
Here are the biggest dangers facing us in 2016 as outlined in this terrifying report and described to Congress by spy chiefs.
GLOBAL THREAT NUMBER ONE — ISIS
In testimony before congressional committees last night (Australian time), Mr Clapper described ISIS as the “pre-eminent terrorist threat”, a determined militant group which could “direct and inspire attacks against a wide range of targets around the world”.
Defense Intelligence Agency Director, Marine Lieutenant General Vincent Stewart, predicted a more hands-on approach by ISIS, warning it “will probably attempt to conduct additional attacks in Europe, and attempt to direct attacks on the US homeland in 2016”.
ISIS was determined to overcome the logistic challenges of mounting such an attack, he said, adding that intelligence agencies believe the group’s leaders will be “increasingly involved in directing attacks rather than just encouraging lone attackers”.
Mr Clapper said violent extremists were active in about 40 countries and that there were currently more terrorist safe havens “than at any time in history”.
The ‘Worldwide Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community’ report identifies ISIS and its eight branches as “number one terrorist threat”. It warns the group has infiltrated the worldwide refugee exodus, inserting operatives into the “torrent of migrants” and using that flow to reach other countries.
Mr Clapper also made reference to reports that ISIS fighters had seized Syrian passport facilities with machines capable of manufacturing passports “so they can travel ostensibly as legitimate travellers”.
The assessment notes that “approximately five dozen” individuals with links to the ISIS and other extremist groups were arrested in the US last year.
More than 38,200 foreign fighters, including at least 6900 from Western countries, have travelled to Syria from more than 100 countries since 2012.
On the progress of the allied campaign in Iraq and Syria, Mr Stewart said it was unlikely the strategically important Iraqi city of Mosul would be liberated in 2016.
As if all that wasn’t bad enough, al-Qaeda, and its affiliates were also set to make gains this year, with the group’s Yemen-based Arabian Peninsula branch and the Syria-based al-Nusra Front going from strength to strength.
GLOBAL THREAT NUMBER TWO — CYBER-ESPIONAGE
The world has already witnessed countless examples of the damage hackers are capable of, whether it’s leaking classified military information, or bringing down a Hollywood production company.
Mr Clapper said cyber-espionage continued to pose a major risk to the governments of the world and warned that ISIS was developing a similar capability.
Specifically, Russian and Chinese hackers have been targeting information systems controlled by the US government and American industry. Military personnel networks, supply chains and critical information structure were vulnerable, with many having already incurred hits.
Mr Clapper said Beijing selectively used cyberattacks against targets it believed threatened Chinese domestic stability or regime legitimacy.
“We will monitor compliance with China’s September 2015 commitment to refrain from conducting or knowingly supporting cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property with the intent of providing competitive advantage to companies or commercial sectors,” he told congressional hearings last night.
Mr Clapper said North Korea “probably remains capable and willing to launch disruptive or destructive cyberattacks to support its political objectives” and that Moscow “is assuming a more assertive cyber posture” and a willingness to target critical infrastructure and carry out espionage operations.
The intelligence chief suggested Russia’s incursion into Ukraine and other “aggressive” moves around the globe are being done in part to demonstrate that it is a superpower equal to the US.
“We could be into another Cold War like-spiral,” he said.
President Barack Obama yesterday asked Congress for $3.1 billion for cybersecurity, claiming the nation’s cyber infrastructure systems were stuck in the 1960s, making them vulnerable to attacks.
“That’s going to have to change,” Mr Obama said, flanked by top national security advisers in the Roosevelt Room. “We’re going to have to play some catch-up.”
GLOBAL THREAT NUMBER THREE — NUCLEAR NORTH KOREA
This morning the world woke up to the news that North Korea had restarted its plutonium reactor in Yongbyon on the Chinese border — a facility that has not seen action since it was shut down in 2007.
US-based nuclear weapons specialists now believe Pyongyang has the capability to turn the 10 bombs in its possession into anywhere from 20 to 100 by the year 2020.
The revelations were detailed in the worldwide threat assessment and appear to substantiate fears North Korea is not only making technical advances in its nuclear weapons program, following its recent underground test explosion and rocket launch, but working to expand what is thought to be a small nuclear arsenal.
Mr Clapper told the Senate Armed Services and intelligence committees that the reactor had now been operating long enough to recover plutonium “within a matter of weeks to months”.
The intelligence chief’s testimony follows a September 2015 claim from North Korea’s state-run KCNA news agency that the Yongbyon facility was fully operational.
As North Korea’s primary nuclear facility, the spent fuel from the reactor could allow North Korea to develop one nuclear bomb a year, the report said.
On Sunday, North Korea launched a rocket carrying an Earth observation satellite into space. The launch followed a January 6 underground nuclear explosion that North Korea claimed was the successful test of a “miniaturised” hydrogen bomb.
Many outside experts were sceptical and Mr Clapper said the low yield of the test “is not consistent with a successful test of a thermonuclear device”.
He testified that Pyongyang is also committed to developing a long-range, nuclear-armed missile that is capable of posing a direct threat to the US but conceded “the system has not been flight-tested”.
Speaking on the nuclear deal with Iran, Mr Clapper said there was no evidence that Tehran was violating the terms of the agreement but said “we in the intelligence community are very much in the distrust-and-verify mode”.
The assessment warns that Iran may seek to use detained American citizens as “bargaining pieces to achieve financial or political concessions.”
With regards to Russia, Mr Clapper said “despite its economic challenges, Russia continues its aggressive military modernisation,” noting that President Vladimir Putin was “the first leader since Stalin to expand Russia’s territory”.
