The U.S. Intelligence Community’s 2014 “State of the World” Intelligence Assessment

January 29, 2014

The U.S. intelligence community’s annual “state of the world” intelligence assessment is now available online.

The 31-page report contains something for everyone to hate.

It leads with the growing cyber threats posed by Russia, China and other state and transnational actors. In a new twist, the report levels charges against the Russian government comparable to what has said in the past about the China cyber threat, with the report stating “Russian

intelligence services continue to target US and allied personnel with access to sensitive computer network information. In 2013, a Canadian naval officer confessed to betraying information from shared top secret-level computer networks to Russian agents for five years.”

The Russian government will definitely not like being lumped in with China as a cyber threat, especially in light of the disclosures about NSA cyber espionage activities that have been published in the media over the past eight months based on materials provided by Edward Snowden. So one can expect to see counter-charges coming fast and furious from both Beijing and the Kremlin.

For the first time, the U.S. intelligence community takes aim at Bitcoin and other virtual currency systems, stating “Virtual currencies—most notably Bitcoin—are fast becoming a medium for criminal financial transfers through online payment companies. In May 2013, Costa Rica-registered Liberty Reserve— processed $6 billion in suspect transactions and sought to evade enforcement action by moving funds into shell companies worldwide prior to being indicted by US authorities.”

There is much much more, but these are the highlights just on the first couple of pages of the report.