CIA's #2 Gives A List Of The Top Threats To The U.S.

CIA Official Calls Syria Top Threat To U.S. Security -- Wall Street Journal

WASHINGTON—The Central Intelligence Agency's second-in-command warned that Syria's volatile mix of al Qaeda extremism and civil war now poses the greatest threat to U.S. national security.

Michael Morell says the risk is that the Syrian government, which possesses chemical and other advanced weapons, collapses and the country becomes al Qaeda's new haven, supplanting Pakistan.

The threat from al Qaeda in Yemen in recent days—which shut down embassies across the Middle East—highlights the dangers for the U.S. as the terrorist organization tries to establish new beachheads. "It's not so much that al Qaeda has fallen as a threat," but that the threat from Syria has escalated, he said.

Mr. Morell's stark assessment shows how much the U.S. has at stake as it reluctantly prepares to arm Syrian rebels in the coming weeks while continuing to confront an al Qaeda that has dispersed across the globe. His forecast is all the more worrisome because it comes from a top official who other officials say is skeptical of current administration plans to arm the rebels.

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My Comment: After 33 years in the CIA, Michael Morell is retiring on Friday .... so he is probably not really caring on what he says (to a point). So this is why his concerns on Syria are worrisome .... he is clearly not comfortable on where that conflict is heading. Second on his list is Iran, followed by the global al Qaeda threat, North Korea, and cyberwarfare.