US intel community says China, North Korea, Iran and Russia pose complex threats

The U.S. intelligence community said that China, Russia, Iran and North Korea present "complex" threats to the United States, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence's Annual Threat Assessment released Wednesday. 

"During the coming year, the United States and its allies will confront a complex and pivotal international security environment," the report states. The complexity is caused by great powers, rising regional powers and non-state actors vying for dominance as the entire world faces challenges such as climate change and food security, officials said.

Competition between the U.S. and its allies against China and Russia "makes the next few years critical to determining who and what will shape" the global narrative, the report states.

While China is considered a major threat, it faces numerous challenges such as an aging population, high corporate debt levels and internal resistance.

The report also stated that Russia will "remain a formidable and less predictable challenge to the United States," but its economic and energy leverage is a "declining asset."

Iran and North Korea are considered to be regional powers "seeking to exert their influence, often at the cost of neighbors and the world order itself," the report stated. 

Iran will remain a regional threat with attempts at broader influence, while North Korea will expand its weapons capabilities as a destructive actor on the local and global stage, officials said.