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DIA Director Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley joined other Intelligence Community leaders in testifying at the Senate Armed Services Committee Worldwide Threat Assessment hearing March 6 on Capitol Hill.\u00a0Ashley addressed a number of threats and competitors the U.S. faces, including North Korea, China, Russia, and Iran.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, the United States faces an increasingly complex array of challenges to its national security,\u201d Ashley said. \u201cThe military environment has shifted from the existence of the United States as the single power able to dominate challengers and to deter aggression through conventional means to one in which foreign militaries are emerging with near-peer and, in some areas, peer capabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ashley spoke first about North Korea. He stressed that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has pressed his nation down a path to develop nuclear weapons and deliver them with ballistic missiles that can reach South Korea, Japan, and the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn pursuit of this objective, he has instituted a rapid, ambitious missile development and flight-testing program that has, over the past two years, brought North Korea closer than ever before to its goals,\u201d Ashley said. \u201cNorth Korea conducted its sixth nuclear test in September, a test which generated a much larger seismic signature than previous events.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Ashley, North Korea\u2019s nuclear and missile testing has deepened the regime\u2019s isolation, but in spite of external pressure, Kim shows no interest in walking away from his nuclear or missile programs. Additional missile launches are a near certainty, and further nuclear tests are possible as Pyongyang seeks to refine its weapon designs.<\/p>\n
On the threat from China, Ashley discussed how China\u2019s armed forces continued implementing sweeping organizational reforms.<\/p>\n
He said, \u201cThis reorganization is the latest phase in China\u2019s long-term military modernization program to enhance the ability of the People\u2019s Liberation Army (PLA) to conduct joint operations, fight short-duration, high-intensity regional conflicts at greater distances from the Chinese mainland, and strengthen the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s control over the military.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ashley noted that China\u2019s plans includes\u00a0the development of capabilities to conduct long-range attacks against adversary forces that might deploy or operate in the western Pacific Ocean and that China is leveraging its growing power to assert sovereignty claims over features in the East and South China Seas and the China-India border region.<\/p>\n
Turning to Russia, Ashely warned that, \u201cthe Kremlin seeks to establish a sphere of influence over the states of the former Soviet Union, prevent further eastward expansion of NATO, and ensure that no major international issues are resolved without Russia\u2019s input or at its expense.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRussia\u2019s aggressive actions abroad over the last several years\u2014its military interventions in Syria and Ukraine\u2014have boosted Russia\u2019s confidence in its military and increased Moscow\u2019s geopolitical profile.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ashley told the committee that Iran remains a primary nation-state challenger to U.S. interests and security within the Middle East and Southwest Asia.<\/p>\n
\u201cIran continues to improve its conventional capabilities,\u201d Ashley said, while noting that \u201cIran has the region\u2019s largest ballistic missile arsenal, consisting of systems that can strike targets throughout the region up to 2,000 kilometers from Iran\u2019s border.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iran remains committed to modernizing its military; building the capacity of its partners in the region; and forging new relationships, while balancing a desire to gain from its reintegration into the global economic system, according to Ashley.<\/p>\n
Ashley also provided a summary of the situation in Afghanistan, citing how Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) protected major population centers and denied the Taliban strategic gains while combating ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K) and al Qa\u2019ida.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ANSDF will build on its incremental successes by continuing to develop offensive capabilities,\u201d Ashley said, \u201cwhile the Taliban will threaten Afghan stability and undermine public confidence by conducting intermittent high-profile attacks in urban areas, increasing influence in rural terrain, threatening district centers, and challenging vulnerable ANSDF locations.\u201d<\/p>\n
After his remarks on Iran, Ashely turned to the threat our networks, systems and information face from malicious cyberspace activities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most important cyberthreats to our national security will come from exploitation of our weakest technology components,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Our top competitors are developing and using cyberspace to increase their operational reach into our military and civilian system, exploiting our vulnerabilities, and challenging the adequacy of our defenses and cybersecurity investments.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regarding threats from terrorist organizations, Ashley told the committee members that ISIS suffered significant setbacks in 2017 but warned that, \u201cwhile ISIS\u2019s capabilities have been degraded in numerous countries, it remains a significant threat, continuing to inspire more attacks in major cities throughout the West than any other single terrorist organization.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ashley reminded the committee that al Qa\u2019ida also remains a serious and persistent threat to U.S. interests worldwide.<\/p>\n
In his comments about advanced technology developments, Ashley told the senators that our competitors are working to develop more advanced technologies which will pose an increasing challenge to our warfighters and decisionmakers and to the Intelligence Community.<\/p>\n
\u201cDevelopments in hypersonics will revolutionize warfare by providing the ability to strike targets more quickly, at greater distances with greater firepower,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He also noted that research in quantum-enabled communications and quantum computing could supply the means to field highly secure communication systems and break encryption algorithms.<\/p>\n
Finally, in his prepared statement, the DIA director told the committee that the men and women of DIA lead the Intelligence Community in providing strategic, operational and tactical defense intelligence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey deliver decision advantage to warfighters, defense planners, the acquisition community and policymakers,\u201d he said. \u201cI am proud to serve with them and present their analysis to you.\u201d<\/p>\n