Story highlights America's top intelligence official says North Korea will not give up its nuclear arsenal

Director James Clapper also touched on Russian cyber-attacks and the idea of a no fly-zone for Syria

Washington (CNN) Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Tuesday it's a "lost cause" to try to get North Korea to surrender its nuclear weapons -- a view that runs counter to official US policy.

"They are not going to do that," Clapper said in remarks at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, where he touched on a number of foreign policy challenges facing the US -- including a scenario under which the Russians might try to down American fighter plans in Syria.

"They are under siege and they are very paranoid. So the notion of giving up their nuclear capability, whatever it is, is a nonstarter with them," Clapper added. "The best we could probably hope for is some sort of a cap."

The North Korean regime views its nuclear program as "their ticket to survival," the intel director said.

Asked about Clapper's comments by CNN's Elise Labott, a spokesman for the State Department said the official US position on the denuclearization of North Korea had not changed.

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