U.S. Threat Perceptions, Then and Now

  

U.S. Threat Perceptions, Then and Now 

 

 The world is big and dangerous and turns slowly, as do U.S. perceptions of what it sees as most threatening across the globe over time. The shift in U.S. focus over the past decade is reflected in a shift in emphasis in the Director of National Intelligence’s annual threat assessment from 2011 to this year. A decade ago, the Islamic world was still taking up most of the spotlight. The U.S. was 10 years into its war in Afghanistan and in the midst of what, at the time, it hoped would be a last-ditch surge enabling U.S. troops to declare some sort of victory at home.