US intelligence warns of mounting challenges to current world order

Spy chiefs say threats from China and Russia threaten US primacy, war on Gaza could spread insecurity.

United States intelligence agencies have warned that the country faces an “increasingly fragile world order”.

The alarm was sent through the 2024 Annual Threat Assessment report issued on Monday. The document on worldwide threats to US national security cautions that China, Iran and Russia are challenging the current international rules-based order.

The report, outlining the collective insights of the US intelligence community, says the country “faces an increasingly fragile global order, strained by great power competition, transnational challenges and regional conflicts”.

Focusing on threats from China and Russia, the report notes the latter’s invasion of Ukraine. It also points at the risk of broader conflict related to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza since the October 7 attacks by the Iran-aligned movement that governs the enclave.

“An ambitious but anxious China, a confrontational Russia, some regional powers, such as Iran, and more capable non-state actors are challenging longstanding rules of the international system as well as US primacy within it,” the report reads.