the questions today from prosecute senator levin taking the questions of james clapper. he was joined by lieutenant general ronald burgess, the director of the defense intelligence agency. >> director clapper's prepared statement said the following in terms of the intelligence community's assessment about iran's nuclear program. "we assess iran is keeping open the option to develop nuclear weapons. should it choose to do so. we do not know, however, if iran will eventually decide to build nuclear weapons and his statement also said that we judge iran's nuclear decision making as guided by a cost benefit approach which offers the international community opportunities to influence tehran. general burgess, do you agree with that statement of director clapper in his prepared statement? >> yes, sir. i think it would be very consistent with what will the vice chairman of the joint chiefs and myself along with a couple of other witnesses stated before this committee almost a year and a half ago. >> and director clapper, i understand then that what you have said and now general

james clapper saying that the u.s. probably will be shaped by quote tehran's evaluation of the cost it bears for the plot against the ambassador as well as iranian's leaders of perception of u.s. threat against the regime. fill in the pieces. what do you mean? what did james clapper mean? >> you can read this two different ways. the way we are in the environment, increasing speculation about an attack on iran now, by israelis or american forces, covert action by iran. some might read this as a drum roll towards greater military action against iran. the flip side, you can read at any time other way. it's as if he's saying we should be under no illusion if we do attack iran some way they will re retaliate on american soil. >> with the killing of bin laden earlier this year how strong or is how weak is al qaeda tonight? >> as mr. clapper said the other day in congress and has been saying for the last six months there's very strong signs that al qaeda has been substantially degrade, its ability, its communications have det

. >> thank you, director clapper. general burgess. >> chairman levin, ranking member mccain and other members of the committee, i want to thank you for opportunity to join my long-time friend and professional colleague general clapper in representing the men and women of the united states intelligence community. i would like to begin with current military operations in afghanistan. we assessed deficiencies in the army and police forces undermine efforts to extend effective governance and skurtd. the afghan army remains reliant on isaf for key combat support such as logistics, intelligence and transmit. while performance improved in some operations when partnered with isaf units, additional gains will require sustained mentoring and support. despite successful coalition targeting, the taliban remains resilient and able to replace leadership losses while competing to provide governance at the local level. from ms. pakistani safe havens, the taliban leadership is confident of eventual victory. to the west iran remains co

>> i would agree with what director clapper said. i would agree with the clarification because of the movement of the 3 1/2 to 20% enrichment, this is a leap and not that much of a bigger leap to the bigger 90% that they would need to go to. >> great. thank you. do you both agree that -- is it your assessment that p if iran makes a decision to build a nuclear weapons capability in effect axhooefs it, that it is likely to set off a nuclear arms race within the region? in other words, that other countries -- saudi arabia, for instance -- will want to have a nuclear weapons capacity? >> it's certainly a possibility, sir. absolutely. >> and is it also fair to say -- we've talked about the iranian sponsorship of terrorism -- if they had nuclear weapons capability, it might embolden nem in their use of terrorism against regional opponents and even the united states? >> yes, sir, it would serve as a -- as a deterrent. even to a certain extent the ambiguity exists now as a deterrent and serves to help embolden them. >> i'll go to cyber secur

like director clapper, i would probably never publicly disagree with secretary gates. but having said that, i mean, it says we have discussed even last year in front of this committee having this same discussion as we looked at the arab spring as it was called then. i am one of those that think that the intelligence community did, in fact, paint the picture of the environment in the situation and things that were going on. did we make the tactical call in some cases? no, sir. can we be faulted for that? sure. because there is intelligence failure and operational success, as we say. >> i think it is important to note that secretary gates said we have a perfect record, i'm paraphrasing when it comes to the next military engagements. he did not imply the intelligence did not give us some indications. let me piggy back on your comment on the arab spring. director, it is easy to ask. what has the intelligence community learned in the wake of the arab spring? >> we have learned and our focus on counterterrorism, where we were in many of these countries, engaged with local li

clapper says the same thing. you share general dempsey's assessment, a couple of days ago, that the afghan security forces are on track to assume the lead for providing security throughout afghanistan by 2014, while still requiring support a coalition forces for key enablers like intelligence? >> yes, sir, i would be in agreement. >> the question on pakistan. according to news reports a leaked nato report entitled "state of the taliban 2012," included claims by taliban detainee's that pakistan is providing support to the insurgency and it reportedly also portrayed a distrustful relationship between the pakistani intelligence, the isi, and the insurgent groups in accounting that. "there is a widespread assumption that pakistan will never allow the taliban the chance to become independent of isi control." do you share that same assumption that pakistan will never allow the taliban the chance to become independent of isi control? director? >> i have not seen this report. i think the pakistanis, via the isi would wan

director clapper, what is the intelligence community's assessments of the afghan security forces and providing security in those areas where they assumed the lead? >> well, i think so far so good. the areas that have been turned over and the initial launch have performed reasonably well. let me ask general burgess if he wants to add. >> i think we would agree with what you just stated and in fact this is one of the places where the intelligence community is in agreement with the commanders on the ground in terms of how the afghan forces are performing. >> and that is that they are performing? >> they are performing well. when they are backed up by enablers from my staff. >> thank you. a d.o.d. press briefing recently. the general commander and who is in charge of operations in afghanistan describes progress by thean security forces. he indicated that he gave a positive view of the progress to build a capability of the afghan army and the afghan police and i think, general burgess, you share that view and director clapper indicated the same thing. this is my question to you, general.

clapper says al qaeda, while still a threat, is probably unable to launch a massive attack. director clapper also noted the rising volatility in the wake of the arab spring, which, as you know, diane, we are seeing throughout the middle east. >>> speaking of that volatility, martha, we have another headline now from another tinderbox box, syria, where the incendiary clashes continue today. the united nations security council coming together to debate the future of syrian president assad. the u.s. sent in the big guns, secretary of state hillary clinton, who talked about the challenge of pushing assad to resign. >> this will be hard. the results are far from certain. success is far from guaranteed, but the alternative, more of assad's brutal rule, is no alternative at all. >> the security council engaging on the issue today. >>> and now a note about your money tonight on this, the last day of the month. even though the dow closed down slightly today, this month emerged as wall street's strongest january in 15 years climbing more than 3%. the s&p climbed more than 4% this mont

. >> a director clapper? >> to take a longer perspective, this is my third job in the intelligence community in the last 12 years. i started two days after 9/11 that i think we have made tremendous progress. the transformation of the fbi into an intelligence-driven organization is one point. the mitscher urbanization of common security, -- the maturation of homeland security, these things have demonstrated improvement. that's not to say we should rest on our laurels. we always have more issues to deal with and this is not with respect to counter-terrorism a threat that will go away. >> thank you. >> thank you for your words of support. we have made considerable progress over the last year. anytime the top three leaders of the most significant terrorist organization that faces us are taken out, needless to say, that is quite a banner year. al qaeda in the arabian peninsula another organization have sustained important losses. having said that, the threat of terrorism remains significant and we must sustain the

thank you. >> thank you very much, director clapper. we will begin with 10 minutes and early bird rule. as i mentioned in my opening statement, i think 2012 is going to be a critical year for convincing or preventing iran from developing a nuclear weapon. in sunday's "new york times" magazine, israeli journalist wrote, after speaking with many senior israeli leaders and chiefs of the military and the intelligence, i have come to believe that israel will indeed strike iran in 2012. how do you assess that likelihood? and the response from iran, if that happens that might be forth coming. >> well, our hope is that the sanctions, particularly those which have been recently implemented, would have the effect of inducing a change in the iranian policy towards their apparent pursuit of a nuclear capability. obviously, this is a very sensitive issue right now. we're doing a lot with the israelis working together with them. and of course for them, this is, as they have characterized it an existential threat. but this is an area that we are very,

>> chambliss. >> director clapper excuse me.ll then go into 10 minute rounds based on the early bird rule. director clapper, welcome. >> well i take that as a complyment so, thank you. >> good. >> thank you chairman feinstein, vice chairman chambliss and distinguished members of the committee for inviting us to present the 2012 worldwide threat assessment. these remarks and our statement for the record reflect the collective insights of extraordinary men and women of the united states intelligence community whom it is our privilege and who are to lead -- honor to lead. on their behalf i would thank you both for your acknowledgement and recognition that the great work these men and women do all over the world day in and day out. many cases at some hazard. i won't attempt to cover the full scope of worldwide threats in these brief oral remarks so i'd like to highlight just some of the issues we identified for the coming year. never has there been in my almost 49 year career in intelligence more complex and interdependent a ray of

as far as it getting out of control, i don't think general petraeus and general clapper, this is the obama administration, so i have no reason to defend this, but i strongly believe people such as general clapper, general petraeus, they would not be putting us into any kind of frenlzy. >> there's also a leaked nato report today saying pakistan has been helping the taliban kill american troops. this comes on the heels of the united states saying there are members of the pakistani government who have been assi assisting the taliban for quite some time. this is a very explicit thing, helping to kill american troops. should we end the relationship with pakistan? is it really something that the united states must stick with? >> well, first of all, i think the report is not a conclusion. what it does is it states what apparently has been learned from interviews and interrogations, so it may be accurate, it may not be. let's assume it is. there has been a really marked decline over the past 18 months to two years in our relationship with pakistan. especially the isi and -- >> their intellig

clapper. >> thank you. distinguished members of the committee for inviting us to present the 2012th worldwide threat assessment. i observe you probably are the given up for us. i'm joined today by the defense intelligence agency, friend and colleague lieutenant general ron burgess. these are marks in her statement for the record reflect to collect event sides of extraordinary men and women of the united states intelligence community would be recognized and we must appreciate that and have it is our privilege and honor to the. we are most appreciative of your knowledge of the work, sometimes under various conditions around the world. with all its attempt to cover the full scope of worldwide threats in these brief or remarks, said like to highlight some of the issues we identified for the coming year some of which you party done for us a sense that. earlier this month, there was the 51st anniversary of my enlistment in the marine corps. entering my entire career i don't recall a more complex and interdependen

director clapper. mr. clapper. >> thank you. distinguished members of the committee for inviting us to present the 2012th worldwide threat assessment. i observe you probably are the given up for us. i'm joined today by the defense intelligence agency, friend and colleague lieutenant general ron burgess. these are marks in her statement for the record reflect to collect event sides of extraordinary men and women of the united states intelligence community would be recognized and we must appreciate that and have it is our privilege and honor to the. we are most appreciative of your knowledge of the work, sometimes under various conditions around the world. with all its attempt to cover the full scope of worldwide threats in these brief or remarks, said like to highlight some of the issues we identified for the coming year some of which you party done for us a sense that. earlier this month, there was the 51st anniversary of my enlistment in the marine corps. entering my entire career don't recall a more complex and interdependent

in congressional testimony last week, director of national intelligence james clapper testified while israel hasn't made that decision yet spring would be a logical time. >> what could have given rise to this is simply the fact that the weather becomes better, obviously, in the spring and that could be conducive to an attack. >> reporter: clapper will be in israel this week, the latest in a series of high-level meetings in which u.s. official have tried to persuade the israelis to give sanctions more time to work. although panetta has said iran could have a bomb as early as this year, clapper testified it will take longer than a year. >> that's, i think, technically feesble but practically not likely. >> reporter: u.s. officials continue to believe iran will abandon its nuclear ambitions if economic sanctions cause enough unrest to make the regime think it might lose its grip on power. >> pelley: david, thank you very much. in this country, it's the power of nature that has weather forecasters worried. they said today the risk of avalanches in the mountains of washington state is risi

clapper said that international and u.s. sanctions against iran are beginning to work as evidenced by iran's recent devaluation of its currency. coming just a day after state run media released video of mahmoud ahmadinejad fuel rods into reactor israel is deeply skeptical of that. prime minister benjamin net hawaii said i hope the sanctions have an effect but so far they have not. shep? >> shepard: doug mckelway live in washington. doug, thank you. congress now and lawmakers say they have now struck a deal to keep your paycheck from shrinking next month. it came after a very late night on capitol hill and even a phone call from the president pushing them to get it done lawmpletion plan to vote tomorrow it would extepsd the payroll tax cut credit until the end of this year. without that extension, the average american would lose, they tell us, about $40 per paycheck. 20 bucks a week. agreement also extends benefits to the long-term unemployed parlg tax cut is a top election year priority for president obama. the president arg

clapper testify dollars the plots will be smaller and switchler. yes you'll have tactical attacks on the ground, by al-qaeda on the arabian peninsula, but the big picture is we are winning the war against al-qaeda, bin laden and al-qaeda is in decline. yuen jen but al-qaeda is a known entity, right? we know about al-qaeda. the question is more about the unknown. iran has an state sponsor of terror since 19 # nine, according to our country, so despite the inspectors that might go in over the weekend, despite the fact that iran maybe someday benefits -- abandons its nuclear program, will it ever stop being a state sponsor of terror? >> again, nation states form relationships with nonstate actors as a matter of convenience. if they settle up their issues then they won't have any use for them. that's the path, that's what we see historically is the case. and again, most states prefer, if they k. to use their own operatives and not to depend on third parties that are often unreliable. it's much more likely than unlikely, if there are associated -- negot

today on capitol hill, james clapper drove that message home. >> iran's technical advances particularlyuranium enrichment strengthen our assessment that iran is more than capable of producing enough highly enriched uranium for a weapon if its political leaders chooses to do so. >> he also said that iran has the largest supply of ballistic missiles in the middle east and that they could one day be capable of carrying weapons of mass destruction. this is footage of iran's test missiles which they do like on show to the world to show the tower of their program and the country is working in inter-continental ballistic missiles, as well, developing will tell to fire 2,000 miles. and consider this, high ranking israelly official said earlier this month that iran is working on missiles with a range of some 6,000 miles. that is far enough to hit the united states of america. now, an expert that we spoke with said that fitting an intercontinental ballistic pickpic missile could take months or years. but it is important to note that experts also tell us that israel may be exaggerating iran's long

. >> general clapper is saying that the clap to kill the saudi ambassador, to blow up the restaurantington, that signalled an intention by iran to cross what we call the red line and carry out attacks in the united states. since then, there's been other analysis by the cia and other intelligence agencies which caused general clapper to believe that the iranian consider attack in the united states is possible, plausible. in the past was something we believed they would not consider. now, they joined forces, they have forces around the world, hezbollah, cuds force. based on the observation, intelligence, that's being picked up, general clapper believes and i agree with him, that iran is now willing to consider launching an attack against the u.s. and would have the ccapability. >> what kind of attack? terrorist attacks? bombing on a subway? blowing up airlines or a feeling of they might do something, but don't know what or when? >> my belief is that iran has made the decision it would consider making attacks in the united states. i'm not aware of any specific attacks, but i think we wo

. >> the clapper! >> in cuba! >> the clapper says they don't get a nuclear weapon.ey haven't made a decision to build one. panetta said the same thing. intelligence says we're not sure they even move into a nuclear weapon. the point is there's a war party in this city which is trying to drive this country into preemptive war in iran. >> did you hear the chairwoman say what she said, they can launch attacks from there? >> they're not going to -- >> are you making fun of her? >> it's a war party propaganda to the nth degree. >> i agree. >> what do you think the consequences are? >> they're trying to get us in a war with iran. >> they could at least have more focus and make sure we know what's going on. >> we haven't decided to build a bomb and they're going to -- >> i'm not fair mongering here! i just think this is an angle [everyone talking at once] >> we have considered the fact that iran can fight back. >> from over here! >> which is why this country and why opinion is divide in israel about whether there should be a military attack. there's sanctions on iran now,

. >> general clapper is saying that the clap to kill the saudi ambassador, to blow up the restaurant in washington, that signalled an intention by iran to cross what we call the red line and carry out attacks in the united states. since then, there's been other analysis by the cia and other intelligence agencies which caused general clapper to believe that the iranian consider attack in the united states is possible, plausible. in the past was something we believed they would not consider. now, they joined forces, they have forces around the world, hezbollah, cuds force. based on the observation, intelligence, that's being picked up, general clapper believes and i agree with him, that iran is now willing to consider launching an attack against the u.s. and would have the capablcapability. >> what kind of attack? terrorist attacks? bombing on a subway? blowing up airlines or a feeling of they might do something, but don't know what or when? >> my belief is that iran has made the decision it would consider making attacks in the united states. i'm not aware of any specific attacks, but

director clapper i want to start with afghanistan. has the intelligence community produced and agreed upon written assessment of what the afghanistan security forces capabilities will be in 2013? >> sarah, i guess the most current such rendering would have been addressed in the national intelligence estimate that we recently published. >> well i noticed in your statements he is said that there has been some loss in the taliban insurgency in areas where we have troops, but it remains resilient and capable of challenging u.s. and international goals. i also noticed that there was articles in the british press yesterday. it says that the taliban strength and morale are largely intact and talks about significant number of defections to the taliban. and so, i am concerned about the announcement that was made yesterday that we are going to end all combat roles and 2013 and just be in a supporting role. general petraeus you have obviously the most recent direct involvement here. maybe we ought to start by just asking the question, is there a

director clapper talked about problems of unemployment as well. the the overall situation is one in which the sanctions have been biting much more literally in the recent weeks than they have until this time. so i think what we've to see now is how does that play out and what is the popular of the discontent inside iran, does that influence the strategic decision making of the leader in the regime keeping in mind that the regime's paramount goal and all that they do is the regime's survival. some additional questions to pursue particularly regarding the israeli perception of the impact on this and i think that that is better left for the closed session. >> thank you, madame chair. >> senator coats, in response - gets instructive to remember on this what the policy is stated by the president in the state of the union, and he said, quote, america is determined to prevent iran from getting a nuclear weapon. and i will take no options off the table to achieve that goal. then the secretary of defense interviewed on 60 minutes said the u.s. and the pres

clapper for the first time signal that they think this may have come from the top saying that it shows that some iranian officials probably including supreme leader ali common a have changed their calculus and are now more willing to conduct conduct an attack in the united states in response to real or perceived u.s. actions that threaten the regime so i guess if anybody wanted to claim the war drums were beating between the u.s. and iran now or before there is no denying it now here to discuss this with me is christopher swift fellow at the university of virginia law school's center for national security law christopher thanks so much for joining us tonight great to be back. obviously we've heard a lot you and i have been discussing you know so much of what's been happening between the u.s. and iran between the heating up of the rhetoric that we've seen but to say that iran is now the number one terror threat to the united states what happened well the first thing is that al qaeda decentralized al qaeda has been massively degraded in pakistan and afghanistan the local insurgencies are

. >>> national intelligence director james clapper recently testified at a senate arms serviced hearing focusing on u.s. threats to national security.her topics of discussi included security threats in iraq and afghanistan as well as cyber security threats to the u.s. carl levin of michigan chairs this senate armed services committee hearing, it's about two hours and 50 minutes. >>> good morning, everybody. we start by welcoming our witnesses for today's hearing on current and longer term threats and challenges around the world. we're glad to have the director of national intelligence, james clamper and dia director general ron burgess as our witnesses. we thank you both for your long and continued service to our nation on behalf of our troops to whom we all owe so much. this committee has a special responsibility to the men and women of our armed forces, to be vigilant, decisions to use our military force and the planning for operations depends so heavily on intelligence. last year there are clear signs of progress in afghanistan, afghan security forces are in the lead in providing sec

. >> that is i think a couple of years ago, director clapper i think, that's an intelligence community report i think. >> well i think that's an extrapolation of the determinations that were made by the inner agency group on those who needed, would be retained or not from guantanamo. i don't think that was the exact language used, but in essence, that was the recommendation of the inner agency that they be retained at guantanamo. i have to say, i understand your concern with all this, but whether or not we negotiate and with whom we negotiate and the terms of negotiation is not an intelligence community call. it's a policy issue. >> i understand that director. however the intelligence that i hope that the national security council is having access to and i imagine they're getting access to the same information we are. is that correct? >> yes, they are. >> this is important because i want to make sure that we all understand what information we see and what information they see and why i think from a policy perspective, which is at the end of the day why we're engaged in the whole debate

clapper general or former general clapper who's the head of national intelligence and patris they almost wore out the subjunctive mood you know it was always if the uranium is decide to go for a nuclear weapon if they choose to do so it's like going to war in the subjective mood and that's precisely what i was criticized for for saying we did ten years so exactly ten years ago before iraq going to war and if on a contrived synthetic if i've ever seen the like of it now that you said earlier seventy percent of americans believe iran currently has already has a good water bomb i mean what could be behind that that misconception i mean knowing that it's totally not factual really good question you have to take five steps back and say what is this whole about is this about a nuclear capability or. it was about that about regime change we haven't changed a regime in tehran in fifty nine years don't you think it's about time that we change the regime in tehran the israelis lost big time when we went into iraq because the big beneficiary of our expert exculpated iraq was iran now they've lost t

take vo ---en un informe del director de la inteligencia, james clapper, quien dice hay dudas sobre ela que en los 12 aÑos en que ha permanecido en el poder se han debilitado las instituciones democraticas y la representatividad de venezuela. ---sin embargo, se reconoce, que hasta el momento, no hay otro lider que pueda igualar su carisma, personalidad o habilidad para manupular la politica en caso de que no vuelva a ser candidato de nuevo. topvo ---mientras tanto en el salvador, henry campos, vice-ministro de seguridad y justicia present su renuncia. ---no se dieron a conocer detalles sobre la dimision. ---durante la gestion de campos se redactaron varios proyectos de ley, entre ellos la ley anti-pandillas. ---hasta el momento, el presidnete mauricio funes, no ha dicho quien tomar el lugar de campos en el ministerio de seguridad y justicia. cu ---la guerra que emprendi el gobierno de mexico contra el crimen organizado tiene dividida a la poblacion, un joven empresario mexicano cuestion publicamente al presidente calderon. raul torres con los detalles. cu ----nos vamos al reporte del t

in washington senators asked the head of america's intelligence james clapper i think what happens if false are we prepared for the situation of a possible field state were al qaeda enjoys a safe harbor in refuge. from which to coordinate attacks his response bears no optimism there would be a kind of a vacuum i think that. would lend itself to. extremists . operating in syria which is particularly troublesome some has had different question is the u.s. on the same side as opining on syria and whether its policies are indirectly aiding the terrorists or american strategists would have to be fools not to see what al qaeda is doing not to ask the question if you. good for al qaeda can it be good for us in not to look. he may be a ruthless dictator and what he's doing but what comes after him when he falls i think your kind of goes it's best work or it works best when he finds a country that is fundamentally for you this is why i'm against plan putting weapons in and aiding the anti assad resistance because an all out war there could be a disaster which leaves a failed state and syria ev

director clapper, i want to start with afghanistan. has the intelligence community produced and agreed upon written assessment of what the afghanistan security forces capabilities will be in 2013? >> sir, i guess the most current such rendering would have been addressed in the national intelligence estimate that we recently published. >> well, i noticed in your statement, you said that there has been some loss of the taliban insurgency in areas where we have troops, but it remains resilient and capable of challenging u.s. international goals. i also noted that there was articles in the british press yesterday. they said was some sort of military, u.s. military report. i don't know if it was or not, but it says that the taliban strength and morale are largely in tact, and talks about significant number of defections to the talibans. and so i'm concerned about the announcement that was made yesterday that we are going to end all combat role in 2013 and just be in a supporting role. general petraeus, you have obviously the most recent dir