The Dangers

What Keeps the Spies Up at Night
the dangers America faces.

The scope and severity of the parade of horribles in the assessment — even space weapons — reflect a world order that may be strained to the point of fracture. From cyberspace to pandemic diseases, the biggest challenge facing leaders in Washington isn’t identifying threats to the homeland. “It is increasingly a challenge to prioritize which threats are of greatest importance,” Mr. Coats told lawmakers.

How the country responds to threats to national security is as important as picking which to focus on. When it comes to foreign meddling in democratic elections — a top priority for the intelligence community — the initial signs are not encouraging.

“Russia’s social media efforts will continue to focus on aggravating social and racial tensions, undermining trust in authorities,” the report warns.

But, as Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, pointed out during the hearing, foreign nations exploit America’s divisions, they don’t create them. “When a divisive issue like the ‘take a knee’ N.F.L. controversy or a migrant caravan dominates the national dialogue, these are issues that can be — and are — taken advantage of by Russian trolls. Let's not make their work easier.”
And while Mr. X and his populist fellow travelers may cheer chaos in the European Union, Brexit and the rise of nationalism across Europe, the report notes that those are also all major objectives of Russian foreign policy.

“The Kremlin is stepping up its campaign to divide Western political and security institutions and undermine the post-Word War II international order,” Mr. Coats said. “We expect Russia will continue to wage its information war against democracies and to use social media to attempt to divide our societies.”