Erosion of Syrian power accelerating, top U.S. intelligence official says Insurgent forces are establishing a permanent base of operations along the border with Turkey, but the prolonged instability is also allowing al-Qaeda's al-Nusrah affiliate to establish a foothold in Syria, according to Clapper, who was testifying Tuesday along with the heads of the CIA, the FBI and the Defense Intelligence Agency as part of the intelligence community's annual assessment of worldwide threats. Clapper said the fallout from the Arab Spring has allowed jihadist groups to exploit ungoverned spaces in countries where new and weak governments have struggled to establish political stability and field capable security forces. "The struggles of new governments in places like Tripoli and Sanaa to extend their writs, as well as the worsening internal conflict in Syria, have created opportunities for extremist groups," said Clapper. He added that "some transitioning governments are more skeptical than their predecessors about cooperating with the United States and are concerned about protecting sovereignty and resisting foreign interference. This has the potential to hamper U.S. counterterrorism efforts and other initiatives to engage transitioning governments. Clapper said that the al-Qaeda's core leadership group is now so degraded that it "is probably unable to carry out complex, large-scale attacks in the West." His prepared testimony ranged over the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, cybersecurity threats, climate change, competition for natural resources and potential pandemics. Clapper said the intelligence community does "not know if Iran will eventually decide to build nuclear weapons." "We assess Iran is developing nuclear capabilities to enhance its security, prestige and regional influence and give it the ability to develop nuclear weapons, should a decision be made to do so," Clapper said. Of particular note, Iran has made progress during the past year that better positions it to produce weapons-grade uranium (WGU) using its declared facilities and uranium stockpiles, should it choose to do so. Despite this progress, we assess Iran could not divert safeguarded material and produce a weapon-worth of WGU before this activity is discovered. Clapper said that North Korea, which just announced it had "completely scrapped" the 1953 armistice agreement that ended the Korean War, remains focused on "deterrence and defense." "We do not know Pyongyang's nuclear doctrine or employment concepts," Clapper said. Although we assess with low confidence that the North would only attempt to use nuclear weapons against U.S. forces or allies to preserve the Kim regime, we do not know what would constitute, from the North's perspective, crossing that threshold. Clapper also noted that population growth and urbanization are "putting intense pressure on food, water, minerals and energy." He said "food security has been aggravated partly because the world's landmasses are being affected by weather conditions outside of historical norms, including more frequent and extreme floods, droughts, wildfires, tornadoes, coastal high water and heat waves."