Reduced Dominance Is Predicted for US - Joby Warrick and Walter Pincus, Washington Post

Reduced Dominance Is Predicted for US - Joby Warrick and Walter Pincus, Washington Post

An intelligence forecast being prepared for the next president on future global risks envisions a steady decline in U.S. dominance in the coming decades, as the world is reshaped by globalization, battered by climate change, and destabilized by regional upheavals over shortages of food, water and energy.

The report, previewed in a speech by Thomas Fingar, the US intelligence community's top analyst, also concludes that the one key area of continued US superiority -- military power -- will "be the least significant" asset in the increasingly competitive world of the future, because "nobody is going to attack us with massive conventional force."

Fingar's remarks last week were based on a partially completed "Global Trends 2025" report that assesses how international events could affect the United States in the next 15 to 17 years. Speaking at a conference of intelligence professionals in Orlando, Fingar gave an overview of key findings that he said will be presented to the next occupant of the White House early in the new year.

More at The Washington Post.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/09/AR2008090903302.html