Thread by @axios

For the past month, Axios has been interviewing people who have been trusted with the nation’s most sensitive secrets.

We wanted to know which global threat worried them most, and which weren’t getting enough attention. Here's what they said, in this weekend's deep dive:

Gen. David Petraeus, former CIA director, said: “What worries me most is a cyber equivalent of a weapon of mass destruction falling into the hands of extremists who would, needless to say, be very difficult to deter."
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Former acting CIA director John McLaughlin said: "China is the one country that is clearly challenging the United States for global supremacy... Its challenge ranges across a wide field of power dynamics." @jmclaughlinSAIS axios.com/china-rising-o…

James Clapper, director of national intelligence under President Obama, cites "the range of issues that arise from climate change" as a national security threat not receiving sufficient attention.
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Lisa Monaco, homeland security adviser to President Obama, worries about the threat of a new pandemic: "A new strain of deadly flu will make 1918 look like a walk in the park."
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Michael Dempsey, the acting director of national intelligence in the first months of 2017, told us Russia's election meddling and illegal annexation of Crimea point to a deeper threat.
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Michael Morell, former acting CIA director, spoke on Pakistan: "This anti-state jihadist extremism is growing in Pakistan, creating the nightmare society down the road — an extremist government in Islamabad with nuclear weapons." @MichaelJMorell
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David Cohen, former deputy CIA director, said the focus of terrorist groups is now "inspiring and radicalizing local actors to conduct smaller-scale attacks and providing them with web-based training and techniques to do so." @cohendavid axios.com/terrorism-an-u…

Bruce Klingner, the CIA's former deputy division chief for Korea, spoke on North Korea's existing nuclear capabilities: "The capabilities have not changed, and we don't know if the intentions have."@BruceKlingner axios.com/north-koreas-t…

Multiple experts cited artificial intelligence as a force multiplier amplifying existing threats. Once a country possesses a machine with human intelligence, it could have the capability to keep all rivals at bay in perpetuity.
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