Intelligence officials say IS determined to strike U. S.
WASHINGTON — Leaders of the Islamic State are determined to strike targets in the United States this year, senior U.S. intelligence officials said Tuesday, telling lawmakers a small group of violent extremists will attempt to overcome the logistical challenges of mounting such an attack.
In testimony before congressional committees, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and other officials described the Islamic State as the “preeminent terrorist threat.”
“The perceived success of attacks by homegrown violent extremists in Europe and North America, such as those in Chattanooga and San Bernardino, might motivate others to replicate opportunistic attacks with little or no warning, diminishing our ability to detect terrorist operational planning and readiness,” he said.
The militant group can “direct and inspire attacks against a wide range of targets around the world,” Clapper said.
Marine Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said the Islamic State probably will conduct additional attacks in Europe and then attempt the same in the U. S. He said U.S. intelligence agencies believe IS leaders will be “increasingly involved in directing attacks rather than just encouraging lone attackers.”
Clapper also said al-Qaida, from which the Islamic State spun off, remains an enemy and the U. S. will continue to see cyber threats from China, Russia and North Korea, which also is ramping up its nuclear program.
North Korea has expanded a uranium enrichment facility and restarted a plutonium reactor that could begin recovering material for nuclear weapons in weeks or months, Clapper said in delivering the annual assessment by intelligence agencies of the top dangers facing the country.
Clapper said Pyongyang announced in 2013 its intention to refurbish and restart nuclear facilities, to include the uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon and its plutonium production reactor, which was shut down in 2007. He said U.S. intelligence had assessed that North Korea has expanded Yongbyon and restarted the plutonium production reactor there.
Clapper also told the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence committees North Korea has been operating the reactor long enough that it could begin to recover plutonium “within a matter of weeks to months.”
Both findings will deepen concern North Korea is not only making technical advances in its nuclear weapons program, following its recent underground test explosion and rocket launch, but is working to expand what is thought to be a small nuclear arsenal. U. S.- based experts have estimated North Korea may have about 10 bombs, but that could grow to between 20 and 100 by 2020.