Iran Would Exploit U.S. Pullback From Mideast, Says Nominee to Head Joint Chiefs
U.S. President Barack Obama, center, speaks during a nomination announcement with Marine General Joseph Dunford, commandant of the Marine Corps and Obama's nominee to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, second from right, Air Force General Paul Selva, head of the military's transportation command and Obama's nominee to be vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, right, Susan Rice, U.S. national security advisor, from left, Ashton Carter, U.S. secretary of defense, and U.S. Vice President Joseph "Joe" Biden in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, May 5, 2015.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergPresident Barack Obama’s nominee to serve as the next top U.S. military officer said Russia poses the most pressing threat to national security, ranking it above dangers from terrorists and from nations such as China and North Korea.
“If you want to talk about a nation” that “could pose an existential threat to the United States, I’d have to point to Russia,” Marine General Joseph Dunford told the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing Thursday to become chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “And if you look at their behavior, it’s nothing short of alarming.”