America faces new and changing international threats

As U.S. defense strategists meet to discuss innovative ways of combating emerging threats, AOL.com is diving into the issues and new technology being used to address threats to Americans' safety.

Quietly released just before the fourth of July, the Pentagon's 2015 National Military Strategy named Russia, Iran, North Korea, China and international terrorism as the greatest current security threats to the United States. The report also noted "the probability of U.S. involvement in interstate war with a major power is assessed to be low but growing."

"My assessment today, Senator, is that Russia provides the greatest threat to our national security," Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford said at a congressional hearing earlier this month.

One of the noteworthy insights comes from how the American public and the experts perceive the threats our nation faces differently.

A Gallup survey taken this year found that ISIS, a nuclear Iran, and the military power of North Korea are the top three threats facing our nation -- described as critical threats by 84 percent, 77 percent, and 64 percent respectively. Russia and the conflict in Ukraine are perceived to be significantly less pressing by the public, named by less than half of those polled as "critical threats."

ISIS has also eclipsed al-Qaeda in terms of concern, according to the military.

"ISIL is not your parent's Al-Qaeda," FBI Director James Comey said recently of the threat. The Defense Department's strategic outline named ISIS three times and al-Qaeda just once, in the same sentence with ISIS.

When you ask White House hopefuls like Ted Cruz and Lindsay Graham, "the nuclear ambitions of the radical Islamists who control Iran." Ben Carson named ebola as a major threat recently.

While he didn't call it the greatest threat, President Obama turned many heads recently when he spoke about climate change as "a serious threat to global security, an immediate risk to our national security."

Return to AOL.com throughout the day for more coverage of the greatest threats facing America and the technology being used to thwart them.