Testifying before Congress today, DNI Dennis Blair said “the primary near-term security concern of the United States is the global economic crisis and its geopolitical implications.”

Time is probably our greatest threat.  The longer it takes for the recovery to begin, the greater the likelihood of serious damage to US strategic interests…. Although two-thirds of countries in the world have sufficient financial or other means to limit the impact for the moment, much of Latin America, former Soviet Union states and sub-Saharan Africa lack sufficient cash reserves, access to international aid or credit, or other coping mechanism.  Statistical modeling shows that economic crises increase the risk of regime-threatening instability if they persist over a one to two year period.