CNN’s Jim Sciutto Tells Stephen Colbert Russia Is ‘Dangerous…Sort of Like Your Drunk Friend at the Party’

CNN national security correspondent Jim Sciutto discussed his new book Shadow War with CBS Late Show host Stephen Colbert, during which he characterized ongoing threats and interference by Russia in the U.S. as “sort of like your drunk friend at the party, right? You know they’re dangerous.”

Russia, along with China, are both waging secretive, indirect assaults against our country, Sciutto said. And the  meddling goes far beyond the more commonly known examples, like Russian attempts to help Trump win the 2016 election and widespread theft of U.S. intellectual property by the Chinese.

“It’s a war that we’re largely not aware of with two very formidable adversaries,” Sciutto told Colbert. “Sadly, lives have been lost on some of the fronts here and has the potential to threaten more lives. They’re using real weapons under the ocean, on battlefields in Europe and Asia and in space, which is one of the fronts.”

“Do they have a Death Star?” Colbert joked.

“No, but they have operational lasers in space,” Sciutto said. His book also tells of kamikaze satellites deployed by Russia and “kidnapper” satellites deployed by China. And he warned that both countries have the capability to take out our G.P.S. network “tomorrow.”

When Colbert asked the CNN reporter to draw contrasts between the two global powers, Sciutto distinguished between them in terms of both intent and capabilities.

“They’re both aggressive,” he pointed out. “Generally, folks will talk about Russia being the greater, more dangerous short-term threat and China being the more formidable, long-term threat. China: bigger economy, bigger population, more capabilities, and that’s the one Americans think more about long-term, military commanders, intelligence officials, etc.”

And while Russia geopolitical behavior might better fit the “drunk friend” analogy, Sciutto said China tends to be less chaotic and more strategic — and more ruthless — in choosing conflicts with the U.S. “China is more like the quiet one in the background but is more dangerous,” he said. “They’re sort of subtly evil, but equally vicious. I talked to former head of counter-intel[ligence] for the FBI, he’s a former cop, and he says no one is more vicious than China. They will kill you and your families. Seriously, it’s like the mob.”

Watch the video above, via CBS.