Blair: China Adopting a More Aggressive Military Stance

National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair told Congress Tuesday that China's alleged harassment of an unarmed U.S. Navy craft is the "most serious" he's seen in eight years, warning that China appears to have adopted a more aggressive military stance.

"The Chinese trajectory there has changed in a somewhat more aggressive way in the past several years from what we had seen earlier," he said, specifically pointing to activity in the South China Sea. "They seem to be more ... military, aggressive, forward-pushing than we saw a couple of years before."

Blair said the debate is still open as to whether China's military power will be "used for good or for pushing people around."

His testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee comes after the Pentagon accused five Chinese ships of harassing an unarmed U.S. Navy craft in international waters. Blair said the incident is the worst since a U.S. spy plane and crew were detained in 2001.

In the incident Sunday, Chinese ships surrounded and harassed a Navy mapping ship in international waters off China, at one point coming within 25 feet of the American boat and strewing debris in its path, the Defense Department said. The Obama administration protested to China about what it called reckless behavior that endangered lives.

At one point during the incident the unarmed USNS Impeccable turned fire hoses on an approaching Chinese ship in self defense, the Pentagon said. At another point a Chinese ship played chicken with the Americans, stopping dead in front of the Impeccable as it tried to sail away, forcing the civilian mariners to slam on the brakes.

In the hearing, Blair and Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Michael Maples also said Iran does not yet have any highly enriched uranium, the fuel needed to make a nuclear warhead. They said Iran has only low-enriched uranium -- which would need to be refined into highly enriched uranium before it can fuel a warhead.

Neither official said there were indications that refining has occurred. Their comments disputed a claim made last weekend by Israel's top intelligence military official, who said Iran has crossed a technical threshold and is now capable of producing atomic weapons.

The claim made by Israeli Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin runs counter to estimates by U.S. intelligence that the earliest Iran could produce a weapon is 2010, with some analysts saying it is more likely that it is 2015.

Maples said the United States and Israel are interpreting the same facts, but arriving at different conclusions. The status of Iran's nuclear program has been the subject of conflicting public statements by top military and intelligence officials recently in the wake of U.N. revelations that Iran has more low-enriched uranium than previously thought.

Earlier this month, Defense Sec. Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm.. Mike Mullen differed over Iran's capability. While Mullen said Iran has sufficient fission material for a bomb, Gates insisted "they're not close to a weapon at this point."

Maples also said the Somali extremist group al-Shabaab is poised to formally merge with Al Qaeda, expanding the terrorist franchise in East Africa.

Maples said the propaganda released by both groups recently highlights their ideological similarities, suggesting a merger is forthcoming.

Al-Shabaab conducts almost daily attacks in Somalia. A merger would strengthen Al Qaeda's foothold in East Africa.

Blair also stood firm Tuesday behind former U.S. Ambassador Charles Freeman, his pick for a top analysis job, despite strong congressional criticism. Freeman, who was U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia during the Persian Gulf war, had harshly criticized the Israeli government, the Iraq war and the war on terrorism in general.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.