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The Syria disconnect in US terrorism policy

The US national intelligence director, James Clapper, foresees a rise in "political uncertainty and violence" in the Middle East in 2014.
U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper is pictured at a House Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, October 29, 2013. The hearing was on the potential changes to the foreign intelligence surveillance act (FISA).     REUTERS/Jason Reed   (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY) - RTX14SXL

As the Geneva II talks on Syria staggered to an uneventful close, US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper this week presented a stark assessment of the terrorist threat in the Middle East in his annual “Worldwide Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community” before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

“Political uncertainty and violence will probably increase in the region in 2014,” Clapper’s statement read, adding that the war in Syria has “created opportunities for extremist groups to find ungoverned spaces from where they can try to destabilize new governments and prepare attacks against Western interests.”

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