Leadership & Organization — 2026-03-18

DNI Gabbard Releases 2026 Annual Threat Assessment Before SSCI

DNI Gabbard presented the 2026 Annual Threat Assessment to SSCI alongside CIA Director Ratcliffe, FBI Director Patel, DIA Director Adams, and NSA Director Hartman. The IC identifies China as the most capable AI competitor, projects 16,000+ missiles threatening the homeland by 2035, and assesses Iran's regime as 'intact but largely degraded' post-Epic Fury. North Korea stole an estimated $2B in cryptocurrency in 2025 and deployed 11,000 troops to Russia. The assessment omits election security for the first time since 2017.

Analysis
Prior INTSUM (March 17) reported FBI 702 queries of Americans' data rose 35% in 2025 and NSA IG found surveillance rule violations; this context was absent from the threat assessment itself. The assessment's election security omission is the first since 2017.