The U.S. intelligence community’s annual threat assessment for 2023 certainly cannot be faulted for having a narrow focus or Pollyanna perspective.
From a rising China, Russian aggression and Iran’s nuclear ambitions to climate change, future pandemics and the growing reach of international organized crime, the IC’s analysis is as comprehensive as it is worrying.
Inaugurated two decades ago as a gesture of transparency and to inform Congress and the American public, the annual threat assessment offers the intelligence agencies’ top-line conclusions about the country’s leading national-security threats — though always in ways that will not compromise “sources and methods.” As in the past, America’s spies and intelligence analysts have stayed in their lane and avoided policy questions or any suggestion that some problems are more important than others.