CIA director warns "misjudgments" could further escalate conflict in Middle East
CBSN
CIA Director William Burns warned Monday of the potential for simmering clashes in the Middle East to spread across the region even as, he said, the U.S. intelligence community had assessed the leaders of Iran and Israel are not looking for "all-out conflict."
"[W]e face the very real danger of a further regional escalation of conflict," Burns said during a moderated question-and-answer session at the annual Cipher Brief threat conference in Sea Island, Georgia. He said Israel's leadership was "weighing very carefully" how it would respond to Iran's ballistic missile attack last week, but warned that "misjudgments" could still lead to an inadvertent escalatory spiral.
"The Middle East is a place where complicated stuff happens all the time," Burns said.

Another winter storm may be headed toward the East Coast of the United States this weekend, on the heels of a powerful and deadly system that blanketed huge swaths of the country in snow and ice. The effects of that original storm have lingered for many areas in its path, and will likely remain as repeated bouts of Arctic air plunge downward from Canada and drive temperatures below freezing. Nikki Nolan contributed to this report. In:

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