Clapper: Global Threats Exceedingly Complex

The world of 2012 presents the United States with myriad security threats, perhaps to an unprecedented level, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told the Senate Select Intelligence Committee on Tuesday. “Never has there been in my almost 49-year career in intelligence a more complex and interdependent array of challenges than what we face today,” stated Clapper in testimony with leaders of the US intelligence community on their 2102 worldwide threat assessment. He continued, “Capabilities, technologies, know-how, communications, and environmental forces aren’t confined by borders and can trigger transnational disruptions with astonishing speed, as we have seen.” Clapper noted that “never before has the intelligence community been called upon to master such complexity on so many issues in such a resource-constrained environment.” Among the discussion topics, Clapper told the committee that Iran “is certainly moving on [the] path” towards having a nuclear weapon. However, “we don’t believe they’ve actually made the decision to go ahead with a nuclear weapon,” he said. The cyber threat, including from state actors like China and Russia, “is one of the most challenging ones we face,” said Clapper. (Clapper’s prepared testimony)