US Designates N Korea among Four Countries Challenging US Interests
BY HWANG DOO HYONG, Yonhap News
Washington — North Korea is among four countries that will challenge U.S. national interests in the coming years, a U.S. intelligence report said Tuesday.
The 2009 National Intelligence Strategy report, which appeared on the Web site of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, cited North Korea’s nuclear and missile capabilities and their possible proliferation. [1] [2]
“North Korea continues to threaten peace and security in Northeast Asia because of its sustained pursuit of nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities, its transfer of these capabilities to third parties, its erratic behavior and its large conventional military capability,” said the quadrennial report compiling information from 16 U.S. intelligence agencies.
Three other countries cited are Iran, China and Russia.
The Barack Obama administration is considering sending Stephen Bosworth, special representative for North Korea, to Pyongyang to persuade the North to return to the six-party talks, which the North has said it will boycott for good due to international sanctions after its nuclear and missile tests earlier this year.
Pessimists say the Obama administration may have to eventually count North Korea as a nuclear weapons state, although Washington currently pledges to press hard for the North’s complete denuclearization.
North Korea conducted its second nuclear test in May after one in 2006, and is believed to possess several nuclear warheads, along with ballistic missiles capable of reaching the mainland U.S.
The intelligence report comes on the heels of a poll last month that described North Korea as the biggest security threat to the U.S.
“Seventy-five percent of Americans describe North Korea as an enemy of the United States,” while “Iran is seen an enemy by 70 percent of adults,” Rasmussen Reports, an electronic public opinion pollster, said in a survey of 1,000 Americans conducted between Aug. 6 and 9.
“Both are developing nuclear weapons and refuse to listen to the United Nations and other international mediators who are trying to talk them out of it,” the report said. “They are also the nations that sizable majorities of Americans consider to be the biggest enemies of the United States.”
Rasmussen picked Iraq and Afghanistan as the next biggest threats, with 41 and 40 percent ratings each.
The DNI report, meanwhile, cited Iran for its “nuclear and missile programs, support of terrorism and provision of lethal aid to U.S. and coalition adversaries.”
“China shares many interests with the United States, but its increasing natural resource-focused diplomacy and military modernization are among the factors making a complex global challenge,” the report said.
Russia, meanwhile, is “a U.S. partner in important initiatives such as securing fissile material and combating nuclear terrorism, but it may continue to seek avenues for reasserting power and influence in ways that complicate U.S. interests.”
The report also predicted that non-state actors such as terrorist groups and transnational criminal organizations will challenge U.S. national interests by:
- – the possible use of nuclear weapons if they can acquire them to attack the United States
- – attempting to destabilize vulnerable states in regions of strategic interest to the United States
- – potentially penetrating and corrupting strategically vital markets
- – destabilizing certain nation states, and
- – providing weapons, hard currency and other supports to insurgents and violent criminal factions.
FOOTNOTES
1. DNI Unveils 2009 National Intelligence Strategy US ODNI – September 15, 2009↑
2. Media Conference Call with DNI Blair on the 2009 National Intelligence Strategy US ODNI – September 15, 2009↑
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Pride and prejudice of US intelligence
BY PENG KUANG, China Daily
Through the report, we can conclude that although the US has undergone a historic presidential election and a series of world-shaking events after 9/11, its strategic objective and modes of conduct have not changed, but continue to be enhancement of its global hegemony and prevention of any new emerging power. …
It is strange that the world’s largest nuclear power, the US, is said to have now become the country most vulnerable to a nuclear threat. Shortly after he headed to the White House, President Obama outlined his vision of a nuclear-free world, appealing for worldwide nuclear disarmament. …
The report reflects a kind of typical Cold War and power politics mentality, which not only runs counter to modern international political reality and hinders goodwill for cooperation among countries in the current crisis-torn world, but is also out of line with the US long-term national interests. People who always assume others to be enemies may end up in isolation. The US would not like to see its self-fulfilling prophecy come true someday.
Source: China Daily – September 24, 2009
As long as the US thinks so, the Big Four will think that the US is the sole challenger to them.
What makes potential threats real
Reports that US intelligence once again called Russia a threat may be another example of journalistic dramatization, but they also indicate that America still pursues the goal of total dominance in the world.
Anyone who has more than two years in journalism knows that there are some topics that return to air, pages and computer screens regularly. One such topic here in Russia is “United States sees Russia as main threat – report.” This week, this news arrived again and I would like to study, if not the reality of the threat, then at least the attitude of fellow journalists and politicians to this ever-returning issue.
Read more
As we can learn from today’s reports, Russia is described as a menace in the 2009 National Intelligence Strategy Report – a key document outlining the US intelligence strategy for the next four years. Other key threats are: Iran, China, North Korea and failed states; Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups; the current economic crisis; climate change; and even the development of technology. The list is eclectic and covers almost all spheres of life.
At the same time, a closer look at the report reveals that often it studies not actual, but rather possible threats, and this is precisely the case with Russia. Reuters quoted the document as reading that Russia “may continue to seek avenues for reasserting power and influence in ways that complicate US interests.” As far as I personally can understand this phrase, authors of the report hold that, at present, Russia’s power and influence are too small to be of any problem, but in theory it is possible that Russia may try to change this and that the way Russia chooses to exercise this may or may not in some way complicate the United States. In other words, headlines outlining that Russia was called a threat are an exaggeration, but I am not going to analyze the work of fellow journalists.
Let’s have a look at the report instead. There is of course some truth in it. Russia’s official military doctrine sees the US and NATO as potential enemies and Russia pursues its own goals in the international economy, sometimes acting against US interests. The fears of an energy crisis that grip Europe every New Year’s Eve as Russia and Ukraine negotiate the renewal of gas transit agreements, as well as the full scale Russian military operation launched after Georgia attacked South Ossetia last August can be seen as examples. But in what way are natural gas deliveries to Germany and Greece a concern to US intelligence? And in what way should the territorial conflict near the Russian border pose a threat to US security? If we write off the absurd theory that the authors of the report suffer from paranoia, the answer will be that the United States intelligence holds that the interests of its country cover both the territory of the Earth itself and all fields of human activity.
This becomes all the more obvious if we look at the failed states that are also mentioned as a threat in the report. The term is relatively new, and the official list of failed states was only published in 2005 by the Fund for Peace. According to the think tank, 38 countries are in the “alert” state, which is the worst in the index, so these should be considered “failed”. The list ranges from relatively prosperous nations like Iran and Nigeria, to war-torn Afghanistan and obscure states like Eritrea and East Timor. (Interestingly, the index rated only 13 countries as “sustainable” and the United States itself is in the “moderate” part of the list).
So, again, the report takes it for granted that the United States’ interests lie all over the surface of the Earth and suggests that the government deals with all issues that could be of possible threat to these interests, even if the probability is not very high. Analysts, then, should not be surprised by the growing alienation – a traditional response to attempts to secure world dominance, especially when such attempts are carried out through military force.
Ironically, this makes the report a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy, and Tuesday’s headlines don’t seem so very wrong to me after all.
Kirill Bessonov, RT
Source: Russia Today – September 16, 2009
China urges US to correct mistaken remarks in NIS report
BEIJING, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) — China on Wednesday urged the United States to correct its wrong opinions about China in its 2009 National Intelligence Strategy (NIS) report issued Tuesday.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu commented when answering a question about China’s reaction to the report which listed China, Russia, Iran and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) as the four major countries challenging the U.S. interests.
Jiang said China has always been a strong force in safeguarding and promoting world peace and stability, and China’s development does not pose a threat to any other countries.
“We urge the United States to discard its Cold War mindset and prejudice, correct the mistakes in the NIS report and stop publishing wrong opinions about China which may mislead the American people and undermine the mutual trust between China and the United States,” she said.
The NIS, produced by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, is also a four-year blueprint for all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies.
Source: Xinhua – September 16, 2009
Russia could challenge US interests – intelligence report
WASHINGTON, September 16 (RIA Novosti) – Russia is among the countries that could challenge U.S interests, according to the U.S. 2009 National Intelligence Strategy (NIS).
The NIS, a four-year blueprint for the intelligence services, was released late on Tuesday.
Russia, China, Iran and North Korea have been listed as countries that “have the ability to challenge U.S. interests” not only in traditional ways, such as military force and espionage, but also in “emerging” ways, in particular cyber operations.
“Russia is a U.S. partner in important initiatives such as securing fissile material and combating nuclear terrorism, but it may continue to seek avenues for reasserting power and influence in ways that complicate U.S. interests,” NIS says.
However, the U.S. intelligence does not rule out cooperation with these states.
“There also may be opportunities for cooperation with many nation-states, including those cited above, in support of common interests that include promoting rule of law, representative government, free and fair trade, energy, and redress of troublesome transnational issues,” the report says.
For the first time, enhancing cyber security was included in the list of national priorities. Though the document itself did not name any particular country that could be “a cyber threat,” Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair mentioned Russia and China in connection with the issue.
“China is very aggressive in the cyber-world, so too is Russia and others,” he said.
Source: RIA Novosti – September 16, 2009