American intelligence chief calls Pakistani missile program a threat to US

US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has identified Pakistan among countries posing a growing strategic concern, warning that Islamabad’s evolving long-range missile capabilities could potentially bring the American homeland within range.

Presenting the 2026 Annual Threat Assessment before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Gabbard also named Iran, China, Russia, and North Korea as nations actively developing new missile delivery systems, including both nuclear and conventional warheads, which put the US within range.

“The US secure nuclear deterrent continues to ensure safety in the homeland against strategic threats. However, Russia, China, North Korea, Iran and Pakistan have been researching and developing an array of novel, advanced, or traditional missile delivery systems with nuclear and conventional payloads that put our homeland within range,” Gabbard said.

She noted that Pakistan’s ballistic missile development “potentially could include intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs)” capable of reaching the US homeland.

Gabbard also warned that the number of missile threats facing the US was expected to rise sharply, with the intelligence community projecting that global missile inventories could exceed 16,000 by 2035, up from more than 3,000 currently.

She added that the countries identified in the report would likely seek to understand US missile defence plans in order to shape their own development programmes and assess Washington’s deterrence posture.

Reacting to the remarks, former Pakistani ambassador to the US Jalil Abbas Jilani rejected the claim that Pakistan posed a direct missile threat to the American homeland.

In a statement, Jilani said Pakistan’s nuclear doctrine was India-centric and aimed at deterrence, not global power projection, adding that Islamabad’s strategic posture was focused on regional security dynamics.

Meanwhile, Turkish analyst Shaqeq-ud-Din questioned the assessment, arguing that Pakistan did not possess intercontinental ballistic missiles, while raising concerns about India’s growing ICBM capabilities, which he said were expanding with external support.

He termed the classification of threats selective, questioning whether similar scrutiny was being applied uniformly to all countries.

South Asia threat assessment

The threat assessment report noted that South Asia remained a source of “enduring security challenges”, particularly the relations between Pakistan and India, for the US.

"Pakistan-India relations remain a risk for nuclear conflict given past conflicts where these two nuclear states squared off, creating the danger of escalation," it stated. It also mentioned the Pahalgam attack that triggered a war between the two neighbours.

“President Trump’s intervention deescalated the most recent nuclear tensions, and we assess that neither country seeks to return to open conflict, but that conditions exist for terrorist actors to continue to create catalysts for crises,” it stated.

The report also highlighted tensions along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, stating: “Relations between Pakistan and the Taliban have been tense, with intermittent cross-border clashes, as Islamabad has become increasingly frustrated with anti-Pakistan terrorist groups’ presence in Afghanistan while Islamabad faces growing terrorist violence.”

“Pakistan’s army chief warned this month that lasting peace requires the Taliban to sever ties with militants targeting Pakistan.

The Taliban’s public posture has been to call for dialogue, but it has denied harbouring anti-Pakistani militants,” it said, while referring to the ongoing war between the two states.