2012 U.S. Intelligence Community Worldwide Threat Assessment: Iran, Nuclear Weapons, Terrorism, al-Qaida, Jihad, Homegrown Terror, WMD, North Korea, Cyber Threat, Taliban, Afghanistan, Arab Spring

Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. presented the 2012 annual U.S. intelligence community worldwide threat assessment in Congressional testimony on January 31st. In the published report, Clapper provides a thorough review of the status of possible threats from a wide variety of nations and terror groups. He made headlines by commenting that the 2011 plot to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador to the United States "shows that some Iranian officials — probably including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei — have changed their calculus and are now more willing to conduct an attack in the United States in response to real or perceived US actions that threaten the regime."

Threats discussed in the assessment include: Chemical, Biological, Radiological or Nuclear (CBRN) threats * al-Qaida * Homegrown Violent Extremists (HVEs) * Leadership of the Global Jihad * al-Shabaab * The Threat from Iran * Nuclear Proliferation and Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) * North Korea * Cyber Threats from China and Russia * Hackers * Counterintelligence * Mass Atrocities * Afghanistan * Resilient Insurgency * Pakistan * India and its Relations with Pakistan * People's Liberation Army Modernization * Taiwan * Regional Implications of the Arab Spring * Libya * Yemen * Lebanon * Syria * Arab Spring and the Global Jihadist Movement * Iraq * Sudan and South Sudan * Somalia * Nigeria * Central Africa * Russia and Eurasia * Russian Military * Balkans * Turkey and the Kurdish Issue * Latin America and the Caribbean * Cuba * Venezuela * Significant State and Nonstate Intelligence Threats * Transnational Organized Crime * Space and Counterspace * Water security * Health Threats and Natural Disasters