Director of National Intelligence Daniel R. Coats presented the 2017 annual U.S. intelligence community worldwide threat assessment in Congressional testimony on May 11, 2017. In the published report, Coats provides a thorough review of the status of possible threats from a wide variety of nations and terror groups. In addition to the 2017 assessment, this compilation includes the 2016 assessment for comparison and historical reference, plus important additional material, including the Report of the Select Committee on Intelligence, United States Senate, Covering the Period January 6, 2015 to January 2, 2017.
Topics covered include:
GLOBAL THREATS - Cyber Threat * Emerging and Disruptive Technologies * Terrorism * Weapons of Mass Destruction and Proliferation * Space and Counterspace * Counterintelligence * Transnational Organized Crime * Economics and Natural Resources * Human Security
REGIONAL THREATS - East Asia * China * North Korea Southeast Asia * Russia and Eurasia * Russia * Ukraine, Moldova, and Belarus * The Caucasus and Central Asia * Europe * Key Partners * Turkey * Middle East and North Africa * Syria * Iraq * Iran * Yemen * South Asia * Afghanistan * Pakistan * India-Pakistan * Sub-Saharan Africa * South Sudan * Sudan * Nigeria * Sahel * Somalia * Ethiopia * Democratic Republic of the Congo * Western Hemisphere * Mexico * Central America * Colombia * Cuba * Venezuela
Coats reported: Our adversaries are becoming more adept at using cyberspace to threaten our interests and advance their own, and despite improving cyber defenses, nearly all information, communication networks, and systems will be at risk for years. Cyber threats are already challenging public trust and confidence in global institutions, governance, and norms, while imposing costs on the US and global economies. Cyber threats also pose an increasing risk to public health, safety, and prosperity as cyber technologies are integrated with critical infrastructure in key sectors. These threats are amplified by our ongoing delegation of decisionmaking, sensing, and authentication roles to potentially vulnerable automated systems. This delegation increases the likely physical, economic, and psychological consequences of cyber attack and exploitation events when they do occur. Many countries view cyber capabilities as a viable tool for projecting their influence and will continue developing cyber capabilities. Some adversaries also remain undeterred from conducting reconnaissance, espionage, influence, and even attacks in cyberspace.
