Yesterday U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, with Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier at her side, testified to the Senate Armed Services Committee on worldwide threats. As might be expected, the Russian military operation in Ukraine dominated the discussion. Her remarks, as reported in the news media, never strayed from the narrative of poor Russian military performance in Ukraine being a driver for a purportedly desperate Vladimir Putin, and forecast a long and bloody “war of attrition” against Russia.
U.S. intelligence agencies “do not see a viable negotiating path forward, at least in the short term,” Haines claimed. “The current trend increases the likelihood that President Putin will turn to more drastic means, including imposing martial law, reorienting industrial production, or potentially escalatory military actions to free up the resources needed to achieve his objectives as the conflict drags on, or if he perceives Russia is losing in Ukraine.”
