A Really Inconvenient Truth

Yes, China is a threat.
Apr 11, 2011
By JOSEPH A. BOSCO

Did James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, utter an inconvenient truth last month when he told the Senate Armed Services Committee that China presents the greatest “mortal threat” to the United States?

Several committee members were aghast at Clapper’s observation that China and Russia have the actual ability and the potential intention to attack the continental United States with nuclear weapons.

Asked whether any country intended to pose such a threat to the United States, he responded that China did. The stunned senators pressed the DNI to soften his stark judgments and dispel any impression that either China or Russia presently contemplates such drastic action. After a confusing colloquy, Clapper gave ground and said he was describing only those countries’ capabilities, not their intentions, barely mollifying the agitated committee members.

But his initial statement clearly meant that he was weighing both capabilities and intent, and his judgment stands up to analysis.
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Russia easily surpasses China in both the number and range of ballistic missiles that can reach any part of the continental United States. China’s far smaller arsenal can target only the U.S. West Coast.

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