UPDATED: U.S. Intelligence Chiefs Contradict Trump on North Korea and Iran

Source: The New York Times


By Julian E. Barnes and David E. Sanger

Jan. 29, 2019

WASHINGTON — A new American intelligence assessment of global threats has concluded that North Korea is “unlikely to give up” all of its nuclear stockpiles, and that Iran is not “currently undertaking the key nuclear weapons-development activity” needed to make a bomb, directly contradicting two top tenets of President Trump’s foreign policy.

Daniel R. Coats, the director of national intelligence, also challenged Mr. Trump’s insistence that the Islamic State had been defeated, a key rationale for his decision to exit from Syria. The terror group, the annual “Worldwide Threat Assessment” report to Congress concluded, “still commands thousands of fighters in Iraq and Syria,” and maintain eight branches and a dozen networks around the world.

Mr. Trump is expected to meet next month with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, in a second round of direct negotiations aimed at ridding Pyongyang of its nuclear weapons.

But Mr. Coats told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday that “we currently assess North Korea will seek to retain its W.M.D. capability and is unlikely to completely give up its nuclear weapons and production capability.”

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/29/us/politics/intelligence-chiefs-senate-threats-.html

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UPDATE:

U.S. intel agencies: Russia and China plotting to interfere in 2020 election

DNI chief Dan Coats also noted that U.S. intelligence agencies believe North Korea is unlikely to give up its nuclear weapons.

Jan. 29, 2019, 10:30 AM EST / Updated Jan. 29, 2019, 10:44 AM EST

By Ken Dilanian

U.S. intelligence agencies assess that Russia and China will seek to interfere in the 2020 presidential election, having learned lessons from Russia's operation in 2016, according to the annual public survey of national security threats issued Tuesday.

"We assess that foreign actors will view the 2020 U.S. elections as an opportunity to advance their interests," Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, told the Senate intelligence committee at the worldwide threats hearing.

-snip-

On political interference, the written assessment added that intelligence analysts expect American adversaries "to refine their capabilities and add new tactics as they learn from each other's experiences, suggesting the threat landscape could look very different in 2020 and future elections."

Political interference, using social media and cyber attacks, was scarcely mentioned in threat assessments before last year, but was listed second behind cyber attacks in Tuesday's array of the challenges facing U.S. national security policy-makers.

"Russia's social media efforts will continue to focus on aggravating social and racial tensions, undermining trust in authorities, and criticizing perceived anti-Russia politicians," says the written threats assessment. "Moscow may employ additional influence toolkits—such as spreading disinformation, conducting hack-and- leak operations, or manipulating data—in a more targeted fashion to influence US policy, actions, and elections."

more
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/u-s-intel-agencies-russia-china-plotting-interfere-2020-election-n963896