[inaudible conversations] good morning the Committee Meets this morning to receive testimony on worldwide threats. We are pleased to welcome our witnesses and the director of National Intelligence. Out of respect for the scheduling commitments of our witnesses and unanimous request from our members, we will conclude the hearing at 1130 in the interest of time and to ensure the members of the committee will be able to ask their questions, i will be very brief. I know that comes as a disappointment, especially to the senator from south carolina. I would ask our witnesses to please submit the written statements for the record if they can, its not required. Anyway, last nights horrific attack in manchester was a gruesome reminder that the world is on fire. Everywhere we turn we can see threats to the world rulebased order that underpins Global Security and prosperity. When it comes to the Great Security challenges we face, u. S. Policy and strategy are consistently lacking, whether its china, russia, north korea or radical islamic terrorism, i have heard few compelling answers about how the United States intends to use its alliances, traits, diplomacy, values but most of all its military to protect and defend our National Interest in the rules based order that supports them, especially with sequestration still the law of the land. This is still young administration, coherent policy and strategy take time to develop but we should be mindful that our adversaries are not waiting for us to get our act together. Time is of the essence. Senator reid. In keeping with your spirit i will abbreviate my statements and asked that my full statement be part of the record. Without objection. Thank you for holding the hearing. I also want to thank the witnesses for appearing to provide their analysis on threats and other challenges were facing around the world but i would also like to welcome back her former colleague, director coats for his first appearance before the committee and general stuart think you for your continued leadership. The National Mills terry strategy is organized around the socalled four plus one, primary threats facing our nation today, and the enduring non state extremism, an example of what we witnessed last evening in manchester england, and our hearts and prayers go out to the people of england and all of the world. We are pursuing these issues, and i know you are at the forefront in terms of our intelligence efforts and i appreciate what you do. The four plus one threats have just touched upon form the capabilities we develop, the size of the force we built in the scenarios we plan against. However, to paraphrase, we have a near perfect record in predicting the nature of the next threat we will face, weve always gotten it wrong. We rely on our Intelligence Community to highlight those threats, the ones that we havent identified already. I hope our witnesses will provide their candid thoughts on the other challenges we should pay close attention to moving forward in addition to the four plus one ive outlined. Since a form is present i ask them to consider nominations in the impending military nominations but i First Committee to consider the undersecretary of defense. [inaudible] we favorably report these six nominations. So moved. Second. All in favor say i. The is have it. Welcome to our old and dear friend director coats and general stuart who continues to serve with distinction and with great honor. Thank you director coats, given your advanced age, we begin with you. [laughter] thank you, mr. Chairman. You and i have an ongoing race between who is the more aged and experienced and you win every time which is quite an accomplishment. I am pleased to be before you chairman mccain and Ranking Member read and members of the committee. I must admit when i walked through the door, instinctively i made a righthand turn trying to find my seat on the panel and said oh yeah, ive got to come down here. Youre welcome at any time to take a trip down memory lane. Thank you. Let me just reiterate what the chairman said relative to what happened in manchester last evening. I just returned from london a couple days ago and met with all of my Intelligence Community colleagues there. We spent a significant amount of time discussing threats to our respective homelands and the tragic situation that we see all too much of happening in countries around the world, in particular our allies. It reminds us that this threat is real, it is not going away and it needs significant attention to do everything we can to protect our people from these kinds of attacks. I am here today with the Lieutenant General from the dia to discuss the assessment of the multitude of threats facing our country. He will give opening comments as well and i tried to convince in opening remarks, knowing this is an unclassified session so that we will have plenty of time for your questions. We are here to describe in an unclassified way the complexity and threat which is everexpanding and has challenged the i see to stay ahead of the adversary and this has not been an easy task. We appreciate the support from this committee to address these threats in a way that will give the president the congress, and other policymakers the best and most integrated intelligence we can assemble. In the interest of time, i will discuss some of the many challenges we currently face. The written statement that was submitted earlier discusses these and many other threats in much greater detail. Let me start with north korea. North korea is an increasingly Grave NationalSecurity Threat for the United States because of its growing Missile Nuclear capabilities, combined with the aggressive approach of its leader. Kim jongun is attempting to prove he has the capability to strike the u. S. Mainland with a Nuclear Weapon. We assess all flight tests this year, including the two this month have a demonstrated capabilities short of an icbm at this point in time. However, north korea updated its constitution in 2012 to declare itself a Nuclear Power and its officials consistently state Nuclear Weapons as the basis for a regime survival, suggesting kim jongun does not intend to negotiate them away. In syria we assess the regime will maintain its momentum on the battlefield, provided as likely that it maintain support from iran and russia. The continuation of the syrian conflict will worsen already dangerous conditions for syrians. Furthermore on april 4 the Syrian Regime used a nerve agent against the opposition and what was probably the largest chemical attack by the regime since august 2013. Since that sarah and attack, we have observed more than five allegations of Syrian Regime chlorine use. We assess syria is probably both willing and able to use chemical weapons in future attacks. We are still acquiring and continue to analyze all intelligence related to the question of whether russian officials had knowledge of the chemical weapon attack. Let me turn to Cyber Threats. They continue to represent a critical National Security issue for the United States for at least two key reasons. First our adversaries are becoming more bold, more capable, and more adept at using cyberspace to threaten our interest in shape realworld outcomes. The number of adversaries grows as nationstates, terrorist groups, criminal organizations and others continue to develop Cyber Capabilities. Second, the potential impact of these Cyber Threats is amplified by the ongoing integration of technology into our Critical Infrastructure and into our daily lives. We see this today in the form of the want to cry iran somewhere attack which victimized companies and individuals in over 100 countries within days of its release. Investigation is ongoing. The worldwide threat of terrorism is diverse and multifaceted and opposes a continuing challenge for the United States, for our allies and partners who seek to counter it. Isis is experiencing territory losses in iraq and syria, however we assess isis will continue to be an active terrorist threat to the United States due to its Proven Ability to direct and inspire attacks against a wide range of targets around the world. I might mentioned isis has claimed responsibility for the attack in manchester, although they claim responsibility for nearly every attack. Outside iraq and syria, isis is seeking to foster interconnectedness among its global branches and networks, allowing their efforts to its strategy and withstand counter isis efforts. We assess isis maintains the intent and capability to direct al qaeda and its affiliates continue to pose a significant terrorist threat overseas as they remain primarily focused on local and regional conflicts. Homegrown violent extremist remain the most frequent and unpredictable terrorist threat to the United States homeland. This threat will persist with many attacks happening with little or no warning. I would like to take a quick run through some key areas of the middle east in iraq. Baghdads primary focus through 2017, we assess will be recapturing and stabilizing mosul and other territory controlled by isis. We assess that iraq will still face serious challenges to its stability, political viability and territorial integrity even as the threat from isis is reduced. Reconstruction will cost billions of dollars and reconciliation will be an enduring challenge. In irans public statements they suggest they want to preserve a joint comprehensive plan of action because it views the deal as a means to remove sanctions while preserving some nuclear capabilities. We assess the jcp away agreement has extended the amount of time iran would need to produce enough material for Nuclear Weapons from a few months until about a year. In the meantime, the line activities continue. For example iran provides arms, financing and training and manages 10000 iraqi, afghan and pakistani shiite fighters to support the regime. They have sent hundreds of forces to include members of the Islamic Revolutionary guard corps to syria as advisers and the reelection on may 19 suggest the iranian populace also broadly supports the jcp away. Shortly before the election he criticized the irc g, for attempting to sabotage the deal and called for it iran to start interaction with the world and not be under the evil shuttle of war. In yemen, fighting certainly persists in 2017. Neither side have been able to achieve results for military force. Al qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and isis branch in yemen has exploited the conflict in yemen and the collapse of Government Authority to gain new recruits and allies and expand their influence. They assess the political and security situation in afghanistan will almost certainly deteriorate through 2018, even with a modest increase in military assistance by the United States and its partners. This deterioration is underpinned by afghanistans dire economic situation. Afghanistan will struggle to curb its dependence on external support until it contains the insurgency or reaches a Peace Agreement with the taliban. Meanwhile, we assess the talent and is likely to continue to make gains, especially in rural areas. Afghan Security Forces performance will probably worsen due to a combination of taliban operations, combat casualties, desertions, poor Logistic Support and weak leadership. Pakistan is concerned about International Isolation and sees the position through the prism of Rising International status including indias expanded foreign outreach and deepening ties to the United States. Pakistan will likely turn to china to offset its isolation, empowering a relationship that will help asian project influence in the indian ocean. In addition, islamabad has failed to curb islam as an terrorists in pakistan. These groups will a sustained threat to the u. S. Interest in the region and continue to plan and conduct attacks in india and afghanistan. Russia is likely to become a more assertive nation in global affairs, more unpredictable in its approach to the United States and more often terry and in its approach to domestic politics. We assess russia will continue to look to leverage its military support to the asad regime, to drive a political settlement process in syria on russias terms. Moscow is also likely to use russias military intervention in syria in conjunction with efforts to capitalize on fears of a growing isis and extremist threat and expand its role in the middle east. We also have noticed and discussed insignificant detail , and may do so during the sessio session, russias influence campaign and strategies to undermine Democratic Institutions and interfere with elections. As i said, i just returned from europe, clearly in france, in its election and now in germany with its pending election, in england with its pending election, we are seeing duplications of what has happened here in our election so the russian strategy continues. Let me talk a little bit about ukraine and russia. We assess moscows strategic objectives in ukraine, maintaining longterm influence and frustrating the attempts to integrate into western institutions will remain unchanged in 2017. Russia continues to exert military and diplomatic pressure to coerced ukraine into lamenting moscows interpretation of the agreement. Among them constitutional amendments that would effectively give moscow a veto over the strategic decisions. I will finish up with china. China will continue to pursue an active foreignpolicy, especially within the asiapacific region, highlighted by a firm stance on competing territorial claims in the East China Sea and South China Sea. Relations with taiwan and the pursuit of Economic Engagement across to east asia. China, which views a Strong Military as a critical element in advancing its interest will also pursue efforts aimed at fulfilling its ambitious one belt, one Road Initiative to expand chinas Strategic Influence and economic role across asia through infrastructure projects. In the interest of time, and to get your questions, i will defer assessments on western hemisphere issues which i trust we will discuss during the question. However i would like to make one final point on the Key Authority for the i see Going Forward. As you are all well aware, section 702 of the fisa amendments act is due to expire at the end of the year. I cannot stress enough the importance of this authority on how they do their work to keep americans safe. Section 702 is an extremely effective tool to protect our nation from terrace and other threats. As i described in my confirmation hearing, 702 is instrumental too so much of the i sees critical work in protecting the American People from threats from abroad. We are committed to working with all of you to ensure that you understand not only how we use this authority, but also how we protect privacy and Civil Liberties in the process. In conclusion, the Intelligence Community will continue its tireless work against these and all other threats, but we will never be unmentioned. Although we have extensive insight into many threats and places around the world, we have gaps in others. Therefore, we very much appreciate the support provided by your committee and will continue to work with you to ensure that the Intelligence Community has the capabilities it needs to meet its mission needs. I now turn to general stewart for a few brief remarks. Chairman mccain, Ranking Member reed, members of the committee, thank you for this opportunity to appear to provide an assessment of the threats to our National Security. I concur with the director statement in its entirety. However, i would like to reinforce for this committee and by extension of the American People, your defense and telogens view on five threats facing the nation. We call these are no fail missions because the risk is to high for us to fail in pursuing these missions. They include a Nuclear Capable and provocative north korea, a resurgent russia, a modernizing china and ambitious Regional Power in iran and violent extremist organizations. The last category encompass Ongoing Operations in iraq, syria and elsewhere. We are focused on events in north korea for good reason. Since assuming power kim jongun has conducted Nuclear Tests and theyve tested it an unprecedented nu