MEDIA ADVISORY

For Immediate Release
March 28, 2025

CONTACT:
Dede Laugesen,
info@PresentDangerChina.org

A CPDC Webinar:

The I.C.’s 2025 Annual Threat Assessment:
An Exercise in “Threat Deflation?”

WASHINGTON, DC—Almost entirely overlooked amidst the congressional and media feeding-frenzy over a penetrated Signal group comprised of senior Trump administration national security officials and one deeply problematic journalist, the Senate and House Intelligence Committees received the “2025 Annual Threat Assessment” from the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, and other witnesses. That document is meant to provide in both unclassified and classified forms the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) findings about the various dangers facing the United States of America, both currently and prospectively.

Given its timing, this particular document had to have been largely drafted by political appointees of the previous administration and members of the permanent intelligence bureaucracy. The relative handful of individuals selected by the new Trump administration and put into place to date – in some cases, mere days before the new assessment was unveiled on Tuesday – means that their predecessors were likely more collectively responsible for the priority assigned to assorted threats and how they were characterized.

The question arises, therefore: What are the strengths and shortcomings of the 2025 Threat Assessment, and to what extent do they actually amount to hallmarks of Donald Trump’s second presidency and suggestive of national security policies that will characterize it?

In particular, what does the new annual report say about the current U.S. government’s view of the capabilities and intentions of the nation’s most formidable foreign adversary: the Chinese Communist Party? Are those right who characterize it as an exercise in “threat deflation,” used to rationalize the so-called policy of “restraint” popular in certain 47 administration quarters? Or is the analysis an accurate “just-the-facts, ma’am” estimation of the current and future status of Red China’s comprehensive national power – and evidence that there is no particular need for alarm?

The next Committee on the Present Danger: China (CPDC) webinar will examine such questions today from 9:00-10:15 a.m. EDT and advance prescriptions for course corrections if deemed necessary. Register to watch this timely program—for free—at  PresentDangerChina.org.

WHAT:

WHEN: 9:00-10:15 a.m. EDT, Friday, March 28, 2025

WHO:

• Moderator: Frank Gaffney, Vice Chairman, Committee on the Present Danger: China

Panelists:

• Captain James Fanell, U.S. Navy (Ret.), Former Chief of Intelligence, U.S. Pacific Fleet; Co-author of Embracing Communist China: America’s Greatest Strategic Failure — Topic: “’Threat Deflation’ Concerning the CCP Threat – A Mistake We Can No Longer Afford to Make”
• Charles “Sam” Faddis, 20-year veteran of the CIA’s clandestine service; author, Beyond Repair: The Decline and Fall of the CIA; and the driving force behind AndMazagine.Substack.com – Topic: “Accurately Assessing the Contrast between China’s Comprehensive National Power and Ours: Are We at the Cusp of Losing a ‘Shooting’ War?
• Colonel Grant Newsham, Esq., U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.); former Foreign Service Officer; author, bestseller, When China Attacks: A Warning to America – Topic: “Does the 2025 Assessment Require a Redo, or Is It an Appropriate Basis for National Security Policy for Contending with the Actual CCP Threat?”
• Brian T. Kennedy, Chairman, Committee on the Present Danger: China; former President, Claremont Institute; President, American Strategy Group; author, Communist China’s War Inside America” – Topic: “Does President Trump Agree with the 2025 Annual Assessment of the ‘Main Thing’ – The Chinese Communist Threat – and Either Way, Is He Pursuing the Right Strategy for Defeating it?”

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CONTACT:  Dede Laugesen, info@PresentDangerChina.org_______
Read More at Committee on the Present Danger: China