January 31, 2012
Weapon Program:
- Biological
- Chemical
- Missile
- Nuclear
Related Country:
- Afghanistan
- China
- India
- Iran
- Nigeria
- North Korea
- Pakistan
- Russia
- Syria
- Turkey
- Venezuela
This statement provides extensive detail about numerous state and nonstate actors, crosscutting
political, economic, and military developments and transnational trends, all of which constitute our
nation's strategic and tactical landscape. Although I believe that counterterrorism,
counterproliferation, cybersecurity, and counterintelligence are at the immediate forefront of our
security concerns, it is virtually impossible to rank—in terms of long-term importance—the
numerous, potential threats to US national security. The United States no longer faces—as in the
Cold War—one dominant threat. Rather, it is the multiplicity and interconnectedness of potential
threats—and the actors behind them—that constitute our biggest challenge. Indeed, even the four
categories noted above are also inextricably linked, reflecting a quickly changing international
environment of rising new powers, rapid diffusion of power to nonstate actors and ever greater
access by individuals and small groups to lethal technologies. We in the Intelligence Community
believe it is our duty to work together as an integrated team to understand and master this
complexity. By providing better strategic and tactical intelligence, we can partner more effectively
with other Government officials at home and abroad to protect our vital national interests.