U.S. Intel Cheifs warn of threats to world order

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China may target the 2024 U.S. elections
Intelligence officials assess that China "may attempt to influence the U.S. elections in 2024 at some level because of its desire to sideline critics of China and magnify US societal divisions," according to the report.

Under President Xi Jinping, "Chinese leaders believe it is essential to project power globally in order to be able to resist U.S. pressure," Haines said. But she also noted that Xi's focus on boosting China’s economy may temper any election interference, which would jeopardize the relationship with the U.S. and potentially damage China’s ability to attract foreign investment.

TikTok under fire
Lawmakers from both parties raised concerns about the popular social-media app, which is mentioned briefly in the intelligence report. "It uses the data of Americans to basically read your mind and predict what videos you want to see," Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida said. "The problem is the algorithm that powers it is controlled by a company in China that must do whatever the Chinese Communist Party tells them to do."

In the report, U.S. spy chiefs note that China is “demonstrating a higher degree of sophistication in its influence activity, including experimenting with generative Al.” TikTok accounts run by a Chinese propaganda arm reportedly targeted both Democrat and Republican candidates from during the 2022 U.S. midterm elections.

There is bipartisan agreement that the video-sharing app, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, poses a national security threat. A bill that would require the company to divest from the massively popular platform, which has about 170 million U.S. users, or face a ban is expected to come to a vote in the House of Representatives this week

While the report states that the U.S. intelligence community assesses that “Iranian leaders did not orchestrate nor had foreknowledge” of Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault on Israel, attacks by Iranian-backed groups are threatening to destabilize Lebanon, Iraq, the Gulf, and the Red Sea. "The risk of escalation into direct interstate conflict, intended or otherwise, remains high," the intelligence report says.

"High" risk of escalation in the Middle East
The war in Gaza and the resulting humanitarian crisis has galvanized Arab countries in the region, where there is rising "public sentiment against Israel and the United States for the death and destruction," U.S. intelligence officials say in their report.

"While it is too early to tell, it is likely that the Gaza conflict will have a generational impact on terrorism," Haines told lawmakers at the hearing, which was repeatedly interrupted by anti-war protestors. Inspired by Hamas, terrorist groups including al Qaeda and ISIS have directed supporters to conduct attacks against Israeli and American interests as the war drags on, Haines said

While the report states that the U.S. intelligence community assesses that “Iranian leaders did not orchestrate nor had foreknowledge” of Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault on Israel, attacks by Iranian-backed groups are threatening to destabilize Lebanon, Iraq, the Gulf, and the Red Sea. "The risk of escalation into direct interstate conflict, intended or otherwise, remains high," the intelligence report says.

U.S. support for Ukraine is critical
As the war in Ukraine enters its third year, U.S. intelligence chiefs emphasized the importance of continued U.S. military support. "The Ukrainians are not running out of courage and tenacity, they're running out of ammunition,” Burns told lawmakers. “And we're running out of time to help them."

If the U.S. is seen as walking away from support for Ukraine, “not only is that going to feed doubts amongst our allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific, it's going to stoke the ambition of Chinese leadership,” the U.S. spy chief said.

Intelligence leaders noted the challenge posed by Russia's strengthening ties with China, Iran, and North Korea, which they said was bolstering its defense production and economy. "

Intelligence chiefs also warned that Moscow could "put at risk long-standing global norms in the use of asymmetric or strategically destabilizing weapons, including in space and in the cyber domain." Last month, the White House said that Russia was pursuing a "space-based" anti-satellite capability that poses a serious national security concern.

The US intelligence community assesses Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “viability as a leader” to be “in jeopardy,” according to its annual report on the national security threats facing the United States that was presented to Congress on Monday.

“Distrust of Netanyahu’s ability to rule has deepened and broadened across the public from its already high levels before the war, and we expect large protests demanding his resignation and new elections,” according to the report. “A different, more moderate government is a possibility.”

The US intelligence report also warns that Israel will struggle to defeat Hamas militarily.

“Israel probably will face lingering armed resistance from HAMAS for years to come, and the military will struggle to neutralize HAMAS’s underground infrastructure, which allows insurgents to hide, regain strength, and surprise Israeli forces,” the report reads.

Experts and military analysts have issued similar assessments, warning that Israel’s aggressive bombing campaign may serve only to inspire future generations of terrorist actors.

Both al-Qaeda and ISIS have been inspired by Hamas and “have directed their supporters to conduct attacks against Israeli and U.S. interests,” the report says.

Threat of a terror attack in US has increased
Within the US, the threat of a terrorist attack “has gone to a whole [other] level” since the October 7 attack, FBI Director Chris Wray testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Monday in a hearing surrounding the release of the report.

“Even before October 7th, I would have told this committee that we were at a heightened threat level from a terrorism perspective, in the sense that it’s the first time I’ve seen in a long, long time the threats from homegrown violent extremists, that is jihadist-inspired extremists, domestic violent extremists, foreign terrorist organizations and state sponsored terrorist organizations all being elevated at one time,” Wray said.

The normally security-heavy forum strayed into distinctly political grounds on Monday, with Republican lawmakers on the committee repeatedly pressing intelligence leaders on security issues related the US southern border. In the final moments of the hearing, the panel’s top Democrat, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, traded veiled accusations with Republican Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, about the politicization of the panel.

“One of the things I think that we have always taken some pride [in on this committee] is that we can agree without questioning each other’s patriotism, questioning each other’s motives,” Warner said. “And I hope that tenor will be maintained.”

Risch fired back, referring to Warner and another Democratic senator who criticized the Republican line of questioning: “I’ve been on this committee for 15 years and we do a really good job until politics do creep in — and that’s what’s happened here this afternoon with the last two speakers.”

I thought Israel could end that mess in a month's time, but I didn't think it would be like this, and the leadership of Israel was even unstable.