How Soon Will N. Korea Be Able to Nuke the U.S.? Sorry, Answer Is ‘Classified’
By Susan Jones <http://www.cnsnews.com/author/susan-jones> | May 24, 2017 [image: Description: http://www.cnsnews.com/s3/files/styles/ap_image/s3/coats-stewart.jpg?itok=6GlotGde] Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart, director the Defense Intelligence Agency, testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, May 23, 2017. (Screen grab from C-SPAN) (CNSNews.com) – Various government officials have publicly testified that it’s not a question of if, but when North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un will be able to reach the United States with a nuclear-armed missile. “Can you give us a window on when you think this capability is going to exist for this very unstable leader who has threatened to shoot nuclear missiles at our homeland?” Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) asked two intelligence officials Tuesday at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “I think we would both like to be able to talk to you about that in a classified…session,” Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats replied. “I would say this, I mean, we certainly assess that this is the intent of North Korea,” Coats continued. “And Kim Jong-un has publicly stated that they would like to have intercontinental ballistic missile capability attached to nuclear capability that could reach the United States. And they are on that goal, but relative to exactly where we are, and what and when, of course, is dependent on their testing and ability. “As I testified in my opening statement <https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Coats_05-23-17.pdf> here, they have not reached that capability yet.” “Right,” Sullivan said, “but there’s been public testimony from military leaders, intel leaders, that they’re going to get it. Not if, but when. So I know that we have estimates. I know that some of them are classified. I actually just think it’s very useful to let the American people know. This isn’t 15 years off. This isn’t ten years off.” Turning to Lt.-Gen. Vincent Stewart, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Sullivan tried again: “General, can you give us an estimate? Just – you know, within a couple years. It’s actually a really important issue, and people are going to wake up to it someday, relatively soon. And this is an enormous threat,” the senator said, “and I think the more we’re able to be public about it, the better. “So, let me just repeat,” Sullivan said. “It’s been stated in open testimony a number of times before this committee, it’s going to happen. It’s going to happen. He’s going to have that capability. “Can you just give us a window of what the best estimates are on that intel?” “As I said earlier, left unchecked it’s going to happen,” Stewart replied. “How about a window?” Sullivan asked. “If I gave you a window, you’d -- it would be potential to reveal the insights that we have on the capability. So we won’t do that here. But it is inevitable, if left unchecked,” Stewart said. Earlier in the hearing, Coats and Stewart said it is the policy of the United States to “prevent” North Korea from developing a nuclear missile that could reach the United States. “So that would mean all options are on the table to prevent it?” Sen. Lindsey Graham asked. “I’m certainly not in a position to remove any of the options,” Stewart responded. Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) also raised concerns about the nuclear threat posed by North Korea. Lt.-Gen. Stewart told Donnelly that “the single technical hurdle” remaining for North Korea to achieve intercontinental missile range is “the re-entry vehicle surviving the atmosphere.” “But that’s really a matter of enough trial and error to make that work,” Stewart added. “They understand the physics. It’s just a matter of design.” Donnelly noted that “the way you learn is by trying and by doing.” He said North Korea is learning all the time, and it’s becoming a matter of increasing concern. “Would you agree with that?” he asked Stewart. “They not only are learning with every test, but they’re not encumbered by some of the challenges we have in our in our safety and acquisitions program. So they will take greater risk,” Stewart replied. “And so the timeline -- where we would see things and say, based on our model it will take seven years -- they’re accelerating that timeline because they’re not encumbered by some of the bureaucratic burdens that we have in our weapons acquisition program.” In his opening statement to the Armed Services Committee, DNI Director Coats included North Korea in his worldwide threat assessment: “North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs will continue to pose a serious threat to US interests and to the security environment in East Asia in 2017,” he wrote. Not only does North Korea export its missile and nuclear technology to countries such as Iran and Syria, it also has expanded the size and sophistication of its ballistic missile forces — from close-range ballistic missiles to intercontinental ballistic missiles, and it continues to conduct test launches. “In 2016, North Korea conducted an unprecedented number of ballistic missile tests,” Coats wrote. “Pyongyang is committed to developing a long-range, nuclear-armed missile that is capable of posing a direct threat to the United States; it has publicly displayed its road-mobile ICBMs on multiple occasions. We assess that North Korea has taken steps toward fielding an ICBM but has not flight-tested it. “We have long assessed that Pyongyang’s nuclear capabilities are intended for deterrence, international prestige, and coercive diplomacy.” http://tinyurl.com/ku5cryx ------------------------------ [image: Avast logo] <https://www.avast.com/antivirus> This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. www.avast.com <https://www.avast.com/antivirus> <#m_-7118439651514579956_m_3116107916866428876_m_4799719754067023865_DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2> __._,_.___ ------------------------------ Posted by: "Beowulf" <[email protected]> ------------------------------ Visit Your Group <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/grendelreport/info;_ylc=X3oDMTJmcWVyMGtpBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDdnRsBHNsawN2Z2hwBHN0aW1lAzE0OTU2OTcwODE-> - New Members <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/grendelreport/members/all;_ylc=X3oDMTJnbGowNW9wBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDdnRsBHNsawN2bWJycwRzdGltZQMxNDk1Njk3MDgx> 2 [image: Yahoo! 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