America may have to accept nuclear-armed North Korea as military strike too risky, says former US admiral
Former US national intelligence director says it’s difficult to pinpoint Pyongyang’s nuclear facilities, but other former top brass more hawkish
A former US director of national intelligence has warned against using military means to solve the North Korea nuclear crisis, saying that Washington may have to live with Pyongyang’s weapons programme.
North Korea has defied all diplomatic efforts to stop its nuclear and missile programmes, and many in Washington are worried that US President Donald Trump may resort to a military solution. Sixty-four democratic lawmakers reminded the president in a joint letter on Tuesday that he would need congressional approval for any pre-emptive military strike.
Dennis Blair, the director of national intelligence from 2009 to 2010, said using a surgical strike to take out North Korean nuclear facilities was risky.
“North Korea has thousands of tunnels. It could have its nuclear system stored in all sorts of places,” said Blair, a former admiral who was also in charge of the US Pacific Command (PACOM) until 2002.
Blair said it would be difficult to gather solid intelligence to pinpoint where the North Korean nuclear facilities were.