China’s significant economic problems are increasing the danger Beijing will strike out in a conflict against Taiwan or another regional adversary, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines warned in a U.S. intelligence assessment on Monday.

Ms. Haines told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that China’s communist leadership fears a U.S. nuclear “first strike” and, in response, has deployed more than 300 ground-based nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles in the western part of the country. The expanding nuclear forces increase the danger Beijing will feel emboldened to launch conventional conflicts, she said.

She testified alongside other U.S. intelligence chiefs, including CIA Director William J. Burns and FBI Director Christopher Wray, at an annual Hill hearing examining worldwide threats. Mr. Wray said the FBI is investigating Chinese purchases of U.S. land near military bases and critical infrastructure that can be used for data collection, spying or “worse” — a reference to potential sabotage during a future crisis.

Russia, China and Iran have increased military-to-military coordination during recent years and are now opening a joint naval drill in the northern part of the Indian Ocean, according to Iranian state media.

Adm. Mostafa Tajaddini told Iranian media that “Marine Security Belt 2024” will begin Tuesday in a maritime area stretching across roughly 6,600 square miles. He said the aim is to foster “security and multilateral cooperation” between the Iranian, Russian and Chinese navies. Visits to Iran by Russian and Chinese naval representatives have increased in recent years as relations with the U.S. for all three have deteriorated. Tehran is also supplying military drones to Russia for its war in Ukraine.

NATO is stronger today than ever before. Defense spending is up among member nations and Finland and Sweden have joined in the two years since Russia invaded Ukraine. But beneath the surface are significant differences on key issues, including how the Russia-Ukraine conflict will ultimately be resolved.

This week’s Threat Status podcast features an exclusive interview with Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, whose country remains the only NATO member to decline to send weapons to Kyiv on grounds that it only prolongs a war neither side can win. Mr. Szijjarto joined the podcast as he and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who’s been called Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest ally inside NATO, traveled to Florida to meet with GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump.

The podcast also features an interview with Jim Townsend, who served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for European and NATO policy during the Obama administration. He says most of the NATO nations near Ukraine, including the Baltic states, Poland and Romania, are deeply committed to backing Kyiv. “They don’t want Ukraine to lose because they will be next” in line for a Russian attack, Mr. Townsend said.

FBI Director Christopher Wray says the bureau is aware of a migrant smuggling operation with ties to the Islamic State terrorist organization. He told lawmakers he couldn’t go into details during a public hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Monday, but said the FBI is “very concerned” about the network and has devoted an “enormous amount of effort” to try to figure out what the jihadist group is trying to do.

Mr. Wray testified that there are no current specific known terrorist plots involving the border, but said it’s not a far-fetched conspiracy theory. He pointed to the case of Shihab Ahmed Shihab Shihab, an Iraqi man who was trying to sneak an ISIS hit squad into the U.S. to assassinate former President George W. Bush. “It only takes a few people who can be responsible for a whole lot of harm,” he said.

The Times’ Stephen Dinan covered the hearing and separately reported that President Biden’s 2025 federal budget proposal drops what had been a plan to cut immigrant detention. The new budget calls for the government to maintain an average of 34,000 detention beds for migrants awaiting deportation, marking a retreat for Mr. Biden, who has in the past called for slashing detention funding.

As the world recognizes the importance of increased nuclear power, the United States should take the lead and work to preserve our nuclear fleet and advance American nuclear energy production in the 21st century, according to Rep. Jeff Duncan, South Carolina Republican, and Heather Reams, president of Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions.

The two advocate in favor of the Atomic Energy Advancement Act, a bipartisan bill recently passed by the House that aims to accelerate the development of a new generation of American nuclear power plants. “The United States has always been at the forefront of clean energy innovation, and it is increasingly clear that we can and should dominate the world’s nuclear energy resurgence, just as we did 40 years ago,” they write.

“With continued American development of nuclear technologies and reactors comes increased global influence over the future of clean energy,” they add. “Advanced nuclear technology — including small modular reactors and microreactors — can potentially revolutionize clean energy supply to communities across the United States, including rural areas, and the world.”