'Go back to school': Trump lashes out at US intelligence chiefs

New York: US President Donald Trump has hit out at the country's most senior intelligence officials, saying they are "extremely passive and naive" on the dangers of Iran and suggesting they should go back to school.

The Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats appeared alongside CIA director Gina Haspel and FBI director Christopher Wray before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, local time, to present an annual assessment on global threats to American interests.

FBI director Christopher Wray, CIA director Gina Haspel and National Intelligence director Dan Coats testified before the Senate.Credit: Bloomberg

The 42-page Worldwide Threat Assessment found that Iran was not undertaking the key activities necessary to develop a nuclear weapon, and that the country is in compliance with a 2015 anti-nuclear deal it struck with the Obama administration.

Trump withdrew from the deal last year, saying it was "defective at its core".

Many of the intelligence chiefs' findings have been interpreted as contradicting Trump's foreign policy positions - including their view that North Korea is unlikely to give up its nuclear stockpiles and that the Islamic State remains a serious threat in Syria.

"The Intelligence people seem to be extremely passive and naive when it comes to the dangers of Iran," Trump said in a tweet on Wednesday morning. "They are wrong!"

"When I became President Iran was making trouble all over the Middle East, and beyond. Since ending the terrible Iran Nuclear Deal, they are MUCH different, but ... a source of potential danger and conflict."

Trump continued: "Be careful of Iran. Perhaps Intelligence should go back to school!"

Illustration: Matt GoldingCredit:

Democrat Adam Schiff, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, said it was "deeply dangerous" that the White House was ignoring the view of the country's top intelligence experts.

"It is a credit to our intelligence agencies that they continue to provide rigorous and realistic analyses of the threats we face," he said.

Coats told committee members that leaders in North Korea "ultimately view nuclear weapons as critical to regime survival" and that they are unlikely to give them up.

Trump is expected to meet with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, next month for a second meeting on nuclear weapons.

Elsewhere in the report, the intelligence chiefs identify the "negative effects of environmental degradation and climate change" as a major risk to human health and security.

Meanwhile, Trump this week used cold temperatures in the US Midwest to ridicule the overwhelming view among climate scientists that the planet is warming.

"In the beautiful Midwest, wind chill temperatures are reaching minus 60 degrees, the coldest ever recorded," he said in a tweet.

"In coming days, expected to get even colder. People can’t last outside even for minutes. What the hell is going on with Global Warming? Please come back fast, we need you!"