James R. Clapper, U.S. Director of National Intelligence, gave these remarks to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on January 31, 2012 regarding the annual "Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community". The testimony covers terrorism threats, cyber attacks, counterintelligence, proliferation, mass atrocities, regional and country-by-country threats, and other state and non state intelligence threats such as health threats, water security and transnational crime.

Micah Zenko argues that Iran's recent downing of a Sentinel drone is neither surprising nor particularly revealing.

The CIA has expanded its focus to include more paramilitary missions rather than intelligence collection, write Greg Miller and Julie Tate of The Washington Post.

The payoff of huge investments in security precautions mean better intelligence collection, surveillance, and other security infrastructure that combine to make the likelihood of an al-Qaeda attack today very slim.

Orin Levine and Laurie Garrett argue that the CIA's staged vaccination program in Pakistan, used to locate Osama bin Laden, has damaged the credibility of legitimate global health efforts.

Linda Robinson discusses General David Petraeus's nomination to become director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Micah Zenko argues that as the drone war in Yemen intensifies, the division of labor between the Defense Department and the CIA needs to be clarified.

In a post for the Atlantic, Michael Hirsh, chief correspondent for the National Journal, looks at the Obama administration'sgrowing reliance on hard power and the realtionship developing  between the U.S. military and the CIA.

Elliott Abrams reviews Jack O'Connell's King's Counsel.

Pakistan's intelligence agency, the ISI, faces persistent accusations of links to terrorism, despite repeated denials.

Micah Zenko addresses the question, "Why did it take so long to find bin Laden?"

Panelists compare and contrast the linkages between law enforcement and intelligence in the United States and the United Kingdom and discuss how violent extremism has changed the business of intelligence.

This session was part of the symposium, UK and U.S. Approaches in Countering Radicalization: Intelligence, Communities, and the Internet, which was cosponsored with Georgetown University's Center for Peace and Security Studies and King's College London's International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation. This event was made possible by Georgetown University's George T. Kalaris Intelligence Studies Fund and the generous support of longtime CFR member Rita E. Hauser. Additionally, this event was organized in cooperation with the CFR's Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy Initiative.

Max Boot discusses the use of covert action and secret warfare to fight terrorism and weapons proliferation.

WikiLeaks' publication of classified foreign policy cables highlights the continued power of traditional news media and the challenges journalists face from online groups that do not share their views on transparency, says media expert C. W. Anderson.

The WikiLeaks' controversy reveals inconsistencies in the U.S. government's approach to Internet speech and the responsibilities of private companies in control of what is now considered public space, says CFR's Adam Segal.

Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn discusses the various new strategies used by the Pentagon to identify information technology threats, combat cyber warfare, and protect U.S. infrastructure.

Richard A. Falkenrath says that while the recent decision by the United Arab Emirates to suspend BlackBerry services may have been opposed by business travelers, law enforcement officers and intelligence officers viewed the decision with approval and a bit of envy.

After 9/11, U.S. counterterrorism and intelligence became increasingly reliant on private contractors, a tendency, Dana Priest and William Arkin report, that may make the federal workforce more obligated to private shareholders than to the public interest.

In post-9/11 America, private, for-profit intelligence operations have emerged as a large and cumbersome industry whose complexities may be more a threat to U.S. national security than a benefit, report Dana Priest and William Arkin.

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