Page 2 - Admiral Locklear News Today

You hear the head of the pacific command, admiral locklear, saying yes, we can defend ourselves and we will not -- i would not recommend shooting down a missile if it specifically doesnt threaten our allies. once this crisis is over, and what some people believe is that it will be over, and that kim jong-un will be able to turn around to his people and say, hey, i stared down the united states, i stopped them from invading north korea. you know, once all that is over, then what? and thats where ...

Christiane, you and i know chuck hagel, fareed, you know chuck hagel. he is not a guy who speaks provocatively without specific warning, without specific reason. when i heard what he was saying, i sensed hes pretty concerned. >> he is concerned, but rather than ominous, it sounded kind of reassuring. he basically said we have what it takes to defend our homeland, our allies. and i think that yesterday the admiral in charge of the pacific command, admiral locklear, told congress that of course th...

Reassuring. he basically said we have what it takes to defend our homeland, our allies. and i think that yesterday the admiral in charge of the pacific command, admiral locklear, told congress that of course they would take defensive action if they saw any missile headed in a hostile manner toward allies or u.s. bases in guam. but he would not suggest shooting down any missiles in inhabited areas, in other words, not targeted in anger. >> what happens, fareed, if they do launch not just one or t...

The obama administration now believes a test launch of north korean missiles could be imminent and that north korea would not give the standard warning to shipping in the region, to aviation in the region. theyre taking this very, very seriously. what do you make of it? >> reporter: obviously it has to be taken very seriously. ive got the latest issue of the economist which basically says korean roulette. you see kim jong-uns finger on the red button. that pretty much sums up the feelings. we si...

Kerry is on his way. he will this week go to beijing, tokyo and seoul and hell be talking about whats going on. but particularly with the chinese, trying to see if they can narrow the gap and figure out, persuade the chinese that they have a mutual interest in stopping this behavior by kim jong-un. also, im told, and its probably publicly known, that the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff is heing over there in the next couple of weeks and so will the cia. the idea is to, quote, have a deep d...

So they are very concerned. i was fascinated by senator levin and indeed the admiral in charge of the pacific command, admiral locklear, who testified today, that they would not necessarily recommend shooting down a north korean missile unless it was aimed in anger and targeted either at the u.s. homeland or at allies like japan or south korea. that they wouldnt recommend shooting that down, because they are terribly afraid of miscalculation, and generating a wider conflict. theyre worried also,...

Be a response. now, he didnt lay out what the options are, nor should he in public. but he did say very precisely, that this time it would be likely and expected there would be a response. frankly, i think its obvious that the north koreans would face some kind of a response in the words of admiral locklear, and this time would not get off without that kind of response. it would be presumably proportionate in some way to what the attack is. were not going to up the ante and have events spiral ou...

Know as much as soon. >> in this case, in the scenario were in, were possibly looking at being able to see it being in a general location and then to sense a launch. >> reporter: will north korea launch or stand down? locklear says its hard to read kim jong-un. >> his father and grandfather always figured into their provocation cycle an off ramp of how to get out of it, and its not clear to me that he has thought through how to get out of it. >> reporter: u.s. officials are working through the a...

A south korean island. so whether this is a test of a missile which is providing its not targeted at south korea, the u.s., any of our allies, providing it is aimed at the water as a missile test, thats a very different deal than if its targeted at us or our allies? >> what if it is that worst case scenario? is the u.s. ready to take military action against north korea? >> we are. our pacific commander today said that we are ready with a variety of responses for the south koreans or us to choose...

At south korea or us, but also that we will act. and we are ready to act in some proportionate way to an attack by north korea. >> because as you well know, senator, in 2010 those two incidents you mentioned when north korea attacked positions in south korea including killing 46 south korean sailors aboard that warship, there was no retaliation from either south korea or the united states. what i hear you saying, this time there will be. >> this is what the admiral says and i believe that is tru...