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Journalism of Courage
MARK MAZZETTI & SCOTT SHANE
The nations top intelligence official warned Congress on Tuesday that a cyberattack could cripple Americas infrastructure and economy and suggested that such attacks pose the most dangerous immediate threat to the United States,more pressing than an attack by global terrorist networks.
James R Clapper Jr.,the director of national intelligence,said in prepared testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee that American spy agencies saw only a remote chance in the next two years of a major cyberattack what he defined as an operation that would result in long-term,wide-scale disruption of services,such as a regional power outage.
Still,it was the first time that Clapper has listed cyberattacks first in his annual presentation to Congress about the various threats facing the US,and the rare occasion since 2001 that intelligence officials have not listed international terrorism first in the catalog of dangers facing the US. In 2009,the director of national intelligence,Dennis C. Blair,called the global financial crisis the primary near-term security concern of the United States.
In Clappers prepared testimony,he said,In some cases,the world is applying digital technologies faster than our ability to understand the security implications and mitigate potential risks.
In his State of the Union address,President Obama highlighted the dangers of cyberespionage,and American officials have recently escalated rhetoric aimed at China. On Monday,Tom Donilon,the national security adviser,called on China to agree to acceptable norms of behavior in cyberspace.
China,in response,agreed to hold talks with the United States,Reuters reported.
Clapper began testimony on Tuesday with the heads of several other intelligence agencies,including Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn of the Defence Intelligence Agency and John Brennan,who took over as director of the CIA last week after a lengthy confirmation fight. The threat hearing is the only scheduled occasion each year when the spy chiefs present open testimony to Congress about the dangers facing the United States.
Clapper also gave new emphasis to the danger posed by North Koreas nuclear weapons and missile programsme,which is said for the first time to pose a serious threat to the US as well as to its East Asian neighbors.
The intelligence agencies see evidence of North Koreas commitment to develop long-range missile technology that could endanger the US,Clapper said.
