National Security Issues

U.S. intelligence assessments describe an “increasingly complex” threat environment where China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea coordinate more closely against U.S. interests. China is modernizing its military across all domains and expanding exercises and patrols far from its shores, aiming to pressure Taiwan and U.S. allies in the Indo‑Pacific.

Russia’s full‑scale war in Ukraine continues to strain European security while pushing Moscow into deeper military cooperation with Iran and North Korea, including arms and technology exchanges. These ties strengthen each actor and complicate U.S. and NATO efforts to manage multiple crises at once. The White House’s National Security Strategy frames this era as one of long‑term strategic competition that must be managed to avoid global war.

Cyber operations now target not just government networks but telecoms, power grids, and other critical infrastructure, blurring the line between peace and conflict. A recent U.S. assessment highlighted a PRC cyber campaign, dubbed “Salt Typhoon,” that compromised U.S. telecommunications infrastructure, illustrating how rival states prepare options to disrupt communications in a crisis.

Alongside hacking, information operations—propaganda, influence campaigns, and cultural subversion—aim to shape narratives, undermine trust, and polarize societies. The national security strategy explicitly warns about intellectual‑property theft, industrial espionage, and online influence operations that threaten both economic competitiveness and democratic resilience.

Advanced technologies are rapidly transforming conflict. Defense intelligence highlights AI, biotechnology, quantum sciences, microelectronics, space, cyber, and unmanned systems as key areas where innovation is reshaping military power and espionage. These tools allow faster targeting, more precise surveillance, and automated or remote weapon systems like swarms of drones.

China and Russia are investing heavily in space‑based intelligence, surveillance, and communications capabilities that can track U.S. forces and threaten satellites. At the same time, AI‑driven disinformation, deepfakes, and automated intrusion tools are expanding the scale and speed of cyber and information attacks, forcing governments to rethink regulation, deterrence, and arms control for the digital age.

Although large‑scale terrorist attacks have become less frequent, U.S. intelligence still ranks ISIS affiliates and Al‑Qaida branches in regions like Afghanistan and Yemen among the most significant external terrorist threats. These groups are shifting toward decentralized plotting and inspiring lone actors, making detection harder.

Transnational criminal organizations exploit porous borders and digital finance to move drugs, people, and money. The U.S. National Security Strategy singles out exports of fentanyl precursors as a direct driver of the opioid epidemic, tying public health, border security, and foreign policy together. Criminal and terrorist networks sometimes intersect, using the same smuggling routes and money‑laundering systems, which complicates law‑enforcement and counterterrorism efforts.

To manage these overlapping risks, U.S. strategy emphasizes strengthening alliances, protecting supply chains, and investing in emerging technologies at home. Stopping regional wars from escalating, deterring aggression against partners like Taiwan and NATO members, and modernizing nuclear and conventional forces are all seen as essential to stability.

Equally critical is domestic resilience: hardening infrastructure against cyber and physical attack, securing democratic institutions from foreign interference, and ensuring rapid response to pandemics and natural disasters that can have national‑security effects. In this environment, national security is not just a military mission—it is a whole‑of‑society effort involving government, industry, and informed citizens.