National security threats

Rachel Marsden: Report on biggest threats to US is a thinly disguised shakedown

 In case you were wondering why you should hide under the covers these days (aside from the coronavirus), the U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center has just released a report itemizing the top threats facing the country.

The first question we should be asking is why such a report is published at all. One shouldn’t require a report from Washington dictating what to fear. We should be able to look around on a daily basis and see what presents a threat. Typically, that would mean muggings, theft and other garden-variety domestic criminality. Government investment would then flow to local policing in a bid to curtail these crimes. The impact of the increased funding would be measurable in terms of local crime reduction.

The problem with that scenario is that military-industrial-complex shareholders wouldn’t be getting paid. The fear industry is big business for both government and its private contractors, and we can’t have beat cops getting all the funding to actually do something measurably useful.

So here comes a federal report to instruct you on what you need to fear. The report also serves as a blueprint for how to funnel cash into the pockets of federal agencies and their military-industrial cronies to keep the charade going. The government is here to tell you what poses a danger to you. Ready?

Among the countries listed as “actors targeting the United States” is Cuba. Seriously. Ay, caramba! Let’s panic like its 1962! The report fails to offer any specific explanation of the purported Cuban threat to America, leaving it to you to fantasize about your fate at the hands of the Cuban government in the post-Castro era. 

National security threats

The less-hyped, but more realistic threats to US national security

Statements by President Donald Trump and some members of Congress have caused many Americans to view unsecured borders as the preeminent threat to our nation’s security. While secure borders are important to our economic and physical security, recent information has disclosed alarming deficiencies in U.S. military capabilities. Other information has revealed inadequate cybersecurity requirements in our weapons systems and in other infrastructure systems. These vulnerabilities pose a far greater threat to our national security than our Southern Border.

Hypersonic missile threat

The U.S. missile defense system operates on the assumption that the incoming threat is a ballistic missile traveling on a predictable trajectory. To defeat these systems, Russia has developed several types of weapons classified as “hypersonic” because they travel at speeds greater than five times the speed of sound (Mach 5)...

National security threats

The 5 greatest threats to national security in 2019

We are growing more prosperous, and new technologies, medicines, and ideas are making our lives better. Still, the world remains dangerous. Here are five top threats to America in 2019.

1) A conflict with China over the South China Sea 
Although President Trump and President Xi Jinping of China have a good personal relationship, tensions between our two nations are significant and growing. Aside from any economic developments, there is real potential for a military conflict between the U.S. and China in 2019. If conflict breaks out, it will almost certainly focus on the South China Sea. Determined to construct an imperial empire based on control of sea lanes and to attain a veto over the political choices of his neighbors, Xi is exerting an aggressive military posture. While the U.S. is challenging these efforts with increasing naval and air patrols through the contested areas, a miscalculation or Chinese escalation could lead to a broader conflict. It is crucial to note here that Xi is determined to see China lead a new post-American international order. He will not back down easily, nor shy from risks.

2) North Korea brinkmanship 
I believe that U.S.-North Korea tensions will escalate this year. While Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are likely to hold another summit, the North Korean leadership is indicating that it is unlikely to offer meaningful concessions. The absence of those concessions will mean that the U.S. can offer no sanctions relief to Pyongyang...

National security threats


US intelligence community says quantum computing and AI pose an ’emerging threat’ to national security

It’s not often you can put nuclear weapons, terrorism and climate change on the same list as quantum computing, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, but the U.S. government believes all pose an “emerging threat” to its national security.

Several key agencies in the U.S. intelligence community were asked what they saw as long-term threats faced by the country in the next decade and beyond, and the future of “dual-use technologies” took center stage.

Agnostic technologies like encryption, autonomous and unmanned systems, AI and quantum computing rank at the top of the agencies’ “worry list” for fears that they could be used to cause harm, rather than advance society. While all can be used for good — to secure data, to survey a dangerous area or simply to save time and effort — the government says that all can have disastrous effects if used by an adversary.

National security threats

10 ways the world is most likely to end, explained by scientists

Remember when the possibility of nuclear war seemed remote? The fact that it doesn’t anymore shows how quickly threats to humanity can change and how important they are to pay attention to.

The Global Challenges Foundation, which works to reduce the global problems that threaten humanity, compiles an annual report on global catastrophic risks. The group released the 2018 edition in September, and the litany is harrowing: Chemical warfare, supervolcanic eruptions, asteroid collisions, and the looming effects of climate change threaten to cause everything from civilizational collapse to human extinction.

Some of these risks sound like science fiction, but so did weapons of mass destruction and climate change 100 years ago. As Allan Dafoe and Anders Sandberg of the Future of Humanity Institute write, our brains aren’t good at thinking about catastrophic risk because they either “completely neglect or massively overweight” things that are low probability. So the report, overseen by a team at GCF but with each section written by leading experts, combines historical evidence and scientific data to determine the biggest threats.

The good news for us is that scientists think the world will be habitable for at least a few hundred million more years. The bad news is there’s a lot that could change that. The risk of the threats highlighted in the report actually causing mass casualties are still small, but that doesn’t mean they’re not important to pay attention to — especially when the worst-case scenario means human extinction.

National security threats

Ash Carter: 'Of course' America is safe from North Korean nuclear weapons

President Barack Obama's former Secretary of Defense Ash Carter believes America is prepared if North Korea launches nuclear weapons.

"We do have a very high level of preparation on the Korean peninsula," Carter told CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday.

"Is America prepared?" host Dana Bash asked.

"Of course," Carter responded.

Carter said the U.S. and South Korea have "consistently improved" their capabilities to defend against such an attack.

"We have deployed missile defenses, both short range and long range consistently and in advance of what we anticipate the North Koreans will be doing so that we always stay one step ahead of them," he continued.

National security threats

US defenses get pressured by North Korean missile advances

North Korea’s newly demonstrated missile muscle puts Alaska within range of potential attack and stresses the Pentagon’s missile defenses like never before. Even more worrisome, it may be only a matter of time before North Korea mates an even longer-range ICBM with a nuclear warhead, putting all of the United States at risk.

The Pentagon has spent tens of billions to develop what it calls a limited defense against missiles capable of reaching U.S. soil. The system has never faced combat or been fully tested. The system succeeded May 30 in its first attempted intercept of a mock ICBM, but it hasn’t faced more realistic conditions.

Although Russia and China have long been capable of targeting the U.S. with a nuclear weapon, North Korea is seen as the bigger, more troubling threat. Its opaque, unpredictable government often confounds U.S. intelligence assessments. And North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, has openly threatened to strike the U.S., while showing no interest in nuclear or missile negotiations.

National security threats

CIA chief: Iran, North Korea threaten US national security

CIA Director Mike Pompeo said Saturday that US national security is threatened by Iran, which he described as “the world’s largest state sponsor of terror.”
“Today, we find it with enormous influence, influence that far outstrips where it was six or seven years ago,” Pompeo told MSNBC in an interview that aired Saturday. “Whether it’s the influence they have over the government in Baghdad, whether it’s the increasing strength of Hezbollah and Lebanon, their work alongside the Houthis in Iran, the Iraqi Shias that are fighting along now the border in Syria — certainly the Shia forces that are engaged in Syria. Iran is everywhere throughout the Middle East.”

He also said North Korea poses a “very real danger” to US national security.

“I hardly ever escape a day at the White House without the president asking me about North Korea and how it is that the United States is responding to that threat. It’s very much at the top of his mind,” Pompeo said, adding that the North Koreans are “ever-closer to having the capacity to hold America at risk with a nuclear weapon.”

National security threats

US Considers Chinese Investment in Artificial Intelligence a National Security Threat

Of particular concern is China’s interest in fields such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, which have increasingly attracted Chinese capital in recent years. The worry is that cutting-edge technologies developed in the United States could be used by China to bolster its military capabilities and perhaps even push it ahead in strategic industries.

The U.S. government is now looking to strengthen the role of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), the inter-agency committee that reviews foreign acquisitions of U.S. companies on national security grounds.

National security threats

US Risks National Security If Fails to Reset Relations With Russia - Carter Page

Attempts by a number of US congressmen to prevent a new administration’s reset in relations with Russia, including a call to set up a special panel to investigate Russia's alleged interference in the US presidential campaign, may bring about national security threats, former advisor to Donald Trump’s campaign Carter Page wrote in a letter to Senator John McCain, seen by Sputnik.

"Any efforts by members of Congress now to undercut potential new approaches to Russia would risk U.S. national security and innumerable service members lives," Page said in a letter to McCain, who serves as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, sent late on Tuesday. "American citizens are largely tired of failed interventionist policies. … The number of proxy wars involving Washington and Moscow across the globe still put countless lives at risk today," Page wrote.

National security threats

Russia Removed from US Top Threats List

President-elect Donald Trump’s top «defense priorities» list does not include Russia.

The memo dated December 1 was obtained by Foreign Policy. It was written by Brian McKeon, the acting Undersecretary of Defense for Policy. The priorities were reportedly conveyed to him by Mira Ricardel, a co-leader of Trump’s Defense Department transition team.

The memo focuses on the fight against the Islamic State, boosting the efficiency of defense policy, eliminating caps from the Budget Control Act, improving force strength, size, and readiness of the armed forces as well as working on a new cyber strategy.

Until now, Russia has been listed as number one threat by US officials, including Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper emphasized that Russia was a special threat.

National security threats

The National Security Threats You're Underestimating

IN RECENT years, there has been an evolution in the understanding of the nature of security, both national and international. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, and with it the definition of security as exclusively a military affair, it is becoming clear that threats can come from nature, from technology and from the failure of traditional political structures.

Consider natural threats: first and foremost, climate change and global warming. Despite flat-earther denial, senior military commanders and serious security students agree that appreciable rises in sea levels will be hugely destabilizing in many parts of the world, including in American coastal urban areas. Given widening fractures in the traditional governing consensus, and the power of energy and developmental lobbies, there is little hope for mature policymaking on carbon taxes or other macrodepartures in the short term of a single administration...

National security threats

‘Common sense coming back to Washington; Russia not top US threat’ – ex-Pentagon spokesman

Even though Russia is “still a threat,” it is not among the top threats facing Europe and the US, former Pentagon spokesperson JD Gordon told RT’s Ed Schultz. It’s important to focus on ISIS, cybersecurity, threats killing Americans and allies, he added.

A leaked document from the Pentagon made it clear that Russia is no longer among the USA’s top defense concerns. The four top security priorities of President-elect Donald Trump do not include Russia.

RT: What is your take on the fact that this is definitely a focus shift, or at least it appears to be, from the Pentagon? And now what does the Trump administration want to do?

JD Gordon: It is great that we have common sense coming back to Washington. Russia is not one of the top four threats that America has. It is not the top four threats that Europe has. So that is important to focus on things like ISIS, things like cybersecurity – threats that are actually killing Americans and killing our allies.

National security threats

Want National Security? Dismantle the War Machine

The United States bears no risk of invasion by a foreign military force. And the terrorist threat, which comes from bands of loosely affiliated political extremists, is substantially overblown. Furthermore, it is fueled by the much greater security threats created by environmental abuse, global corporate overreach, and the social divisions of extreme inequality. Under circumstances of growing physical and social stress from environmental devastation and inequality, politics easily turns violent. Violence is all the more certain when people feel deprived of alternative avenues to express their rage at being deprived of a dignified means of living.

This all suggests we need a deep rethinking of how we prioritize and respond to security threats. The greatest threat to national and global security is climate destabilization. That threatens our long-term survival as a species; in the short term, it threatens livelihoods, which exacerbates desperation and violence. Investing in a massive effort to quickly get off fossil fuels and onto renewable energy needs to be our first security priority. We must also recognize that poverty and joblessness fuel the conflicts we hope to resolve.

National security threats

Former National Security Adviser: Time is on our side

A retired Major General in the IDF, Uzi Dayan twice served as National Security Advisor to Israeli Prime Ministers. This week, Dayan sat down with Arutz Sheva to discuss the threats – and opportunities – Israel faces in an increasingly unstable Middle East, as well as the prospects for a comprehensive Arab-Israeli final status agreement.

The two greatest challenges, Dayan argues, are effectively combating terrorism, and the Iranian nuclear program.

"If you don't fight terrorism effectively, you leave the key to any progress, to any solution in the hands of some terrorist," said Dayan. “The second challenge is the nuclearization of Iran. That is unfinished business,” he warned.

To properly confront these threats, Israel must preserve what he described as the nation’s three “strategic assets” – Jerusalem, defensible borders, and internal unity.

"We are in the midst of a regional war in the Middle East. We are not really a part of it, but it poses a big threat to Israel. What we have to do today is not give up on our strategic assets."

National security threats

Arizona sheriff says Obama called global warming America’s ‘top’ national security threat

Paul Babeu, the Republican Sheriff of Pinal County, Ariz., near the U.S.-Mexico border, has repeatedly criticized President Barack Obama’s administration for its lack of border security.

Babeu, who’s running for Congress this November against a Republican field that includes David Gowan, Ken Bennett and Wendy Rogers, warned of Mexican drug cartels in his county ahead of Memorial Day weekend on Fox News’ Hannity on May 26.

But he also used the interview to make a political jab, questioning Obama’s priorities.

"The president has said the national security threat facing America, the top one, is global warming," Babeu said. "It’s not an unsecured border, it’s not the terrorists we should be fighting and defeating."

National security threats

Pentagon Chief: Russia Is Not Our Biggest Threat

During a press conference on Thursday, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter was asked to comment on the statements that Russia is the greatest threat to the U.S. made by newly appointed U.S. officials, including Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, who will assume the post of Joint Chiefs of Staff chief later this year.

Carter responded that he agrees that Russia “poses an existential threat to the United States by virtue simply of the size of the nuclear arsenal that it’s had.”

However, Carter noted that the U.S. has not viewed Russia as an enemy since the end of the Cold War, but “Vladimir Putin’s Russia behaves in many respects … as an antagonist. That is new. That is something, therefore, that we need to adjust to and counter.”

National security threats

Russia or ISIS? Who is America’s No. 1 Enemy?

Who poses the biggest threat to America? For the last few weeks, the nation’s top security chiefs were pressed to answer that existential security question. And as luck would have it, the experts don’t seem to fully agree on the identity of America’s No. 1 enemy.

National security threats

Air Force Secretary Addresses Priorities at Aspen Security Forum

The Air Force secretary yesterday discussed her top national and homeland security issues, as well as current personnel challenges, during a question and answer session with Fox News at the sixth annual, three-day Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.

Regarding her perspective of the current top U.S. threats, Secretary Deborah Lee James said Russia tops the list, followed by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Al Qaida and general extremism in the Middle East, China, North Korea and Iran.