North Korea has the capability of mounting a nuclear warhead on its missiles that could hit the United States, a senior US defense official said.
Vice Admiral Lowell Jacoby, the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, gave the assessment during a Congressional hearing.
Asked by Senator Hillary Clinton whether North Korea had the ability to arm a missile with a nuclear device, Jacoby said: "The assessment is that they have the capability to do that, yes, ma'am."
He said that North Korea also had the ability to deploy a two-stage intercontinental missile that could successfully hit US territory.
"Assessed to be within their capacity, yes," Jacoby told Clinton during the hearing on the defense intelligence budget of the US Senate Armed Services Committee.
North Korea said this month it had shut down its nuclear power plant at Yongbyon and was preparing to reprocess the plant's spent fuel, a move that could result in the production of enough plutonium to build up to six more nuclear bombs.
Reports quoting a US official said last week that the United States believed North Korea was planning to test a nuclear weapon and has asked China to intervene.
SO who is the guy we should have been afraid of?
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It absolutely IS an imminent threat, borne during Clinton as he used our tax dollars to fund North Korea's development of nukes based on blind trust. Something surely has to be done, but obviously each country has its own unique situation. Consequently, the solution for one threat may be quite different from the solution to another.
You are apparently saying that Sadam and the rsident weird beards of Afghanistan were not dangerous to us at the moment the U.S. went into the terrorist extermination business. That's one of those situations we'll never know the answer to since it is impossible to know what might have happened if we had done nothing. North Korea has been a problem for years and will in its turn be dealt with, either unilaterally by one of its neighbors, the U.S. or as a joint effort between the U.S. and others. I don't know why Clinton took this particular oportunity to ask that question, but since even I and anybody else that reads more than the NY Times knew that North Korea has had this ability for several years I doubt it was for her personal education.
The North Koreans need to be told in very blunt terms:
"If you use a nuclear weapon against anybody, anywhere, we will make the nation of North Korea a hole into which sea water will run. You will cease to exist."
Make it very plain--we will not be black-mailed!
So, either deal with us on this or sit there and starve.
And sorry, but Hilary ain't got the stones for that!
I do not think that North Korea intends to build missiles with nuclear warheads that would be used to attack the U.S. or American allies such as ***an and South Korea. While the casualties would certainly be appalling, North Korea does not have enough nuclear weapons to launch an attack on the U.S. mainland that would diminish the ability of the U.S. to wage war and would open North Korea to devestating nuclear retaliation against its own population centers.
I believe that North Korea is developing a capability to strike U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups in the Sea of ***an and the East China Sea. Operation Crossroads. conducted in the aftermath of WWII, demonstrated that the type of nuclear weapons that North Korea has and is continuing to develop could destroy any U.S. fleet that might be sent to Northeast Asia to support an attack on North Korea. Such a strategy would deal a crushing blow to U.S. military power without providing a pretext for all out nuclear war against North Korean cities. The North Korean missiles that present the biggest threat are those that can carry a nuclear warhead, are reasonably accurate and have a range of up to 1000 kilometers. Such missiles would be mounted on mobile launchers and hidden in caves along the Korean coast, ready to strike U.S. carrier groups that would be needed to support U.S. ground forces if an attempt was made to depose the current North Korean regime by military action.
The North Koreans are probably developing multi-stage long range missiles like the Taepo Dong in order to launch a spy sattelite that would allow them to better track and target U.S. naval vessels that might be within striking distance of North Korea.
The threat is not that North Korea is going to launch an unprovoked nuclear attack on the U.S. or its allies; it is the capability, which Iraq did not have, to make the U.S. pay a price the American public would never accept to bring about "regime change" in North Korea.
The North Koreans need to be told in very blunt terms:
"If you use a nuclear weapon against anybody, anywhere, we will make the nation of North Korea a hole into which sea water will run. You will cease to exist."
Supposedly, Clint, this is exactly the message that has been passed to them, at the six-party talks some time ago. Why the NoKos keep it up is not too hard to figure out--they want Clinton's "Agreed Framework" back, to be able to get something for their nuclear blackmail.
I still believe the North Koreans are attempting to immunize themselves against "regime change". Given the events of the past several years the North Koreans are convinced, probably with good reason, that the Bush administration would not launch a pre-emptive war against them if it meant that U.S. forces would actually be confronted with weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear weapons, on the battlefield. Iran has probably also come to the conclusion that Iraq's military weakness, not its possession of WMDs, made it a target for invasion. The Iranians, in their quest for nuclear weapons, have undoudtably noticed that Iraq that denied it had WMD and allowed U.N. inspections was invaded while North Korea, which declared it was expanding its nuclear arsenal and expelled U.N. observers, continues to defy the United States in the most beligerent of language but is in no apparent danger of a U.S. military attack.
I believe that North Korea is developing a capability to strike U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups in the Sea of ***an and the East China Sea. Operation Crossroads. conducted in the aftermath of WWII, demonstrated that the type of nuclear weapons that North Korea has and is continuing to develop could destroy any U.S. fleet that might be sent to Northeast Asia to support an attack on North Korea. Such a strategy would deal a crushing blow to U.S. military power without providing a pretext for all out nuclear war against North Korean cities. The North Korean missiles that present the biggest threat are those that can carry a nuclear warhead, are reasonably accurate and have a range of up to 1000 kilometers. Such missiles would be mounted on mobile launchers and hidden in caves along the Korean coast, ready to strike U.S. carrier groups that would be needed to support U.S. ground forces if an attempt was made to depose the current North Korean regime by military action.
Caldoc
Caldoc , have you ever tried to find a carrier at sea ?
It isn't as easy as you seem to think . Between the ship's onboard radar jamming and the EA-6Bs with their jamming pods a carrier sits in the middle of a radar free zone encompassing several hundred square miles . Even with a visual sighting to take a bearing from it would be nearly impossible for anything but a cruise missle , which NK doesn't have , just to get a nuke warhead within range . I've personally seen what a Vulcan Phalanx gun can do to a drone mock up of a cruise missile , we didn't even find pieces of it . This assumes that the interceptor aircraft don't get it first .
An ICBM would have to reach the top of it's arc before even starting down after the carrier , so the carrier would have plenty of warning and be long gone when it arrived . To put it into perspective , try lobbing a spud from a potato gun at a 4 acre target in the middle of a 4 county area . You'll have a better chance of hitting your target than North Korea ...
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Now this sounds like an imminent threat.
