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EXCLUSIVE: Intel panel foresees lesser U.S. role

World in 2025 expected to be 'multipolar' and dangerous

By Nicholas Kralev (Contact) | Wednesday, November 19, 2008

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The top U.S. intelligence panel this week is expected to issue a snapshot of the world in 2025, in a report that predicts fading American economic and military dominance and warns of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.

The predictions come from the National Intelligence Council (NIC), part of Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell's office.

The NIC report, a draft copy of which is titled "Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World," is slated for release as early as Thursday.

The report also predicts "a unified Korea" is likely by then, and that China will be the world's second-largest economy and a major military power.

"The United States will remain the single most powerful country, although less dominant," according to a "working draft" of the document obtained by The Washington Times. "Shrinking economic and military capabilities may force the U.S. into a difficult set of tradeoffs between domestic and foreign-policy priorities."

A senior intelligence official said some details have changed in the final report, but "the thrust is the same."

The draft says:

"The next 20 years of transition toward a new international system are fraught with risks, such as a nuclear arms race in the Middle East and possible interstate conflicts over resources."

"We see a unified Korea as likely by 2025 and assess the peninsula will probably be denuclearized, either via ongoing diplomacy or as a necessary condition for international acceptance of and cooperation with a needy new Korea."

Thomas Fingar, deputy director of national intelligence for analysis and chairman of the NIC, said Tuesday that the report "should not be viewed as a prediction." Even "projection" is not entirely correct, he said, though he used that word several times during a luncheon at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.