ISIS determined to strike U.S. this year, Senate told

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told lawmakers Tuesday that the Islamic State, al-Qaida and North Korea pose security threats to the United States and that North Korea, China and Russia will continue to carry out cyberattacks.
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told lawmakers Tuesday that the Islamic State, al-Qaida and North Korea pose security threats to the United States and that North Korea, China and Russia will continue to carry out cyberattacks.

WASHINGTON -- Leaders of the Islamic State extremist group are determined to strike targets in the United States this year, senior U.S. intelligence officials told lawmakers Tuesday.

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AP

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, questions officials including Marine Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, during a committee hearing Tuesday.

In testimony before congressional committees, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and other officials described the Islamic State as the "the most significant Sunni terrorist threat to the U.S. homeland in 2016."

The militant group can "direct and inspire attacks against a wide range of targets around the world," Clapper said.

"The perceived success" of the attacks in Paris; Chattanooga, Tenn.; and San Bernardino, Calif., "might motivate others to replicate opportunistic attacks with little or no warning, diminishing our ability to detect terrorist operational planning and readiness," Clapper said, according to testimony submitted to the Senate intelligence and armed services committees.

Marine Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said the Islamic State will probably conduct more attacks in Europe and then attempt the same in the U.S. He said U.S. intelligence agencies believe the group's leaders will be "increasingly involved in directing attacks rather than just encouraging lone attackers."

Clapper also said al-Qaida remains an enemy and the U.S. will continue to see cyberthreats from China, Russia and North Korea, which also is ramping up its nuclear program.

North Korea has expanded a uranium enrichment facility and restarted a plutonium reactor that could begin recovering material for nuclear weapons in weeks or months, Clapper said in delivering the annual assessment by intelligence agencies of the top dangers facing the country.

Clapper said that Pyongyang announced in 2013 its intention to refurbish and restart nuclear facilities, to include the uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon and its plutonium production reactor, which was shut down in 2007. He said U.S. intelligence had assessed that North Korea has expanded Yongbyon and restarted the plutonium production reactor there.

Clapper also told the Senate Armed Services and intelligence committees that North Korea has been operating the reactor long enough that it could begin to recover plutonium "within a matter of weeks to months."

North Korea on Sunday launched a rocket carrying an Earth observation satellite into space. The launch followed a Jan. 6 underground nuclear explosion that North Korea claimed was the successful test of a "miniaturized" hydrogen bomb. Many outside experts were skeptical and Clapper said the low yield of the test "is not consistent with a successful test of a thermonuclear device."

U.S.-based experts have estimated that North Korea may have about 10 bombs.

Clapper said that Pyongyang is also committed to developing a long-range, nuclear-armed missile that is capable of posing a direct threat to the United States, "although the system has not been flight-tested."

Clapper led his written testimony with a survey of threats related to the rising U.S. dependence on computer systems.

He said U.S. information systems, controlled by the U.S. government and American industry, are vulnerable to cyberattacks from Russia and China.

China selectively uses cyberattacks against targets Beijing believes threaten Chinese domestic stability or regime legitimacy, he said.

"We will monitor compliance with China's September 2015 commitment to refrain from conducting or knowingly supporting cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property with the intent of providing competitive advantage to companies or commercial sectors," he said.

North Korea "probably remains capable and willing to launch disruptive or destructive cyberattacks to support its political objectives," he said.

Moscow "is assuming a more assertive cyber posture" that is based on its willingness to target critical infrastructure and carry out espionage operations even when those operations have been detected and under increased public scrutiny, Clapper said.

Clapper also said Moscow's incursion in Ukraine and other "aggressive" moves around the globe are being done in part to demonstrate that it is a superpower equal to the United States. He said he's unsure of Russia's end game but is concerned "we could be into another Cold War like-spiral."

"I think the Russians fundamentally are paranoid about NATO," Clapper said. "They're greatly concerned about being contained and are of course very, very concerned about missile defense, which would serve to neuter what is the essence to their claim to great power status, which is their nuclear arsenal."

On Afghanistan, Clapper said the country is at "serious risk of a political breakdown during 2016." He said waning political cohesion, rising activities by local power brokers, financial shortfalls and sustained attacks by the Taliban erode stability.

On Syria, Stewart said he does not think the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad is likely to collapse or be defeated in the near term, because of increased support from Iran and Russia.

He said Assad's forces will likely regain key territory in some key areas. "He certainly is in a much stronger negotiating position than he was just six months ago," Stewart said.

He predicted, however, that Iranian and Russian interests in Syria likely will diverge because they won't share the stage there as a regional power.

For now, however, Iran wants to maintain its relations with Russia so it can purchase Russian arms without preconditions.

Information for this article was contributed by Deb Riechmann, Richard Lardner and Matthew Pennington of The Associated Press and by Greg Miller of The Washington Post.

A Section on 02/10/2016

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