WASHINGTON — America’s traditional adversaries will take advantage of the weakening of the postwar order and isolationist tendencies of the West to assert greater influence, a new strategy document from the director of national intelligence warned on Tuesday.
Russian efforts to increase its influence are likely to continue, and China is continuing its pursuit of “economic and territorial predominance in the Pacific region,” the report said.
The document, compiled every four years, is meant to guide the intelligence agencies’ broad strategic goals. While it outlines the threat to the United States in broad terms, it includes little in the way of details about specific threats from China, Russia or other countries.
The leaders of American intelligence agencies are expected to testify to Congress in early February with a more fulsome assessment of the threats facing the country. Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, will most likely field questions at that hearing about China’s intensifying espionage activities and Russia’s continuing efforts to interfere in democratic institutions in the United States and the rest of the West.
