STEPHEN BRYEN
There are two kinetic proposals currently being floating in Washington’s top policy circles about what to do with North Korea. The more extreme one, proposed independently by Ed Luttwak in Foreign Policy Magazine, is for the United States to “use well-aimed conventional weapons to deny nuclear weapons” to North Korea. The other proposal, supposedly under study by the Pentagon (with some support reportedly from the National Security Council), is to give North Korea a “bloody...
The Navy is taking a serious look at its Surface Warfare Officer candidate training, with the hopes of creating more proficient officers before assigning them to ship crews, the commander of U.S. Fleet Forces Command said on thursday. - USNI
Lockheed Martin Corp said on Thursday it had connected key components of its new long-range discrimination radar (LRDR) with its Aegis Ashore missile-defense system to enhance Aegis’s capabilities. - Reuters
By Michael Martinez, RealClearDefense: “While rhetoric may seem that war on the Peninsula is unavoidable, there are still ways to engage the Kim Jong-un Regime while keeping the peace among Asian allies.”
- Kissinger: "If North Korea still possesses some nuclear capability, other countries in the region are likely to come to the conclusion that it is safe to proceed with their own nuclear programs...Once that line is crossed, you are in a world in which we have no experience."
- Shultz: "In the Reagan days, people had an appreciation for what a nuke could do...I fear people have lost that sense of dread."
- Armitage on capability vs. intent: “Although China and Russia are the two most capable competitors we face at present, I do not believe that they presently possess that intent [to existentially threaten the United States]. Iran, North Korea and terrorist groups may desire to undermine our system, but they do not yet have the capability to threaten our way of life.”
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