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Exclusive: Nukes, malware and bots: US intelligence races to stay ahead of adversaries

Imminent nation-state threats to U.S. national security, pernicious cyberattacks and looming global health crises, like the 2019 novel coronavirus, are but a small fraction of the burgeoning front-line intelligence challenges facing the nation.

“You have your big four — China, Russia, Iran and North Korea — all the challenges that they present and some of the newer things that have really risen in the last few years, things like counterintelligence,” said Walsh.

Of that quartet of adversaries, each has a formidable military, has nuclear weapons or is intent on developing them, operates a robust suite of cyber weapons, is believed by the U.S. intelligence community to have spies on American soil, is adept at anti-U.S. rhetoric and perhaps most worrying, appears to be growing more aggressive toward the U.S.

“Whether it’s the nuclear capabilities in North Korea or Russian intentions and the Chinese movements in the economic space, those are things that we’re watching every day,” Walsh said.

There are also urgent and potentially damaging election security threats, disinformation campaigns and espionage plots quietly churning away in the shadows.