Page 5 - Icbm Capability News Today

Peninsula. theres no precise attack that can take place, no antiseptic engagement. military engagement will have a significant cost for the people in seoul. i think we should move forward and acknowledge that north korea has an operational nuclear capability, nukes that are embedded on the top of missiles, and that they now have annic -- icbm capability. we have to assume as an intelligence guy, im going to have to assume it has a nuke on the top of it. if we make that assumption, then were goin...

Hes not going to do that. he will be the one that blinks. he will not launch any missiles simultaneously or anything that would be threatening to guam. that wont occur. if he did that, we would have to take those out, and then the ball is in our court in terms of what we do next. my suggestion is, as ive said, lets assume thats nuclear, provocative, lets assume his intention was to wipe us out. hey, man, you cannot afford to do that. the thing about a nuclear capability is you now have to self-m...

Mean we take them down in flat, theyre not inert, they land in the ocean and then we have a real decision to make relative to north korea and his capabilities. if hes launching those and we assume theyre nukes, hes done. >> what do you mean, hes done? what happens then? we then attack pyongyang? >> we would have to. jeffrey, we have no option. if we have the assumption -- >> before hes used any weapons on a population center, we attack pyongyang? >> if hes launching missiles and we make the assu...

My tongue is in my cheek here. you have fire, fury, pestilence, flood and leprosy. frankly what we have is the president of the united states doubling down to ensure that north korea understands that we mean business, but i think whats most important, as we have stated many times before, that the recipients are the message are the citizens about, the government in seoul, tokyo, certainly beijing. seoul understands the incredible cost to be paid if theres any type of an engagement on the peninsul...

If we have the assumption -- >> before hes used any weapons on a population center, we attack pyongyang? >> if hes launching missiles and we make the assumption that those are nuclear tipped -- we have to marry up that assumption. we cant walk forward and say look, hes got a nuclear capability, ergo, when he uses it, were going to kind of very, um, calmly witness where it goes and follow the pattern that we have in the past, which is simply to acknowledge that theyre launching missiles. if we gi...

Correct? >> absolutely correct. we dont know if the guidance and reentry works. >> then you had a statement from secretary tillerson, a statement from mattis, both of which were kind of walking back what the president said or sort of trying to shape what the president said. obviously tillerson was focus odd diplomatic efforts. mattis made the points its not threats. >> its self-protection, and the protection of our allies. tillerson people and americans especially should be able to sleep well at...

Test me. go ahead. shoot a missile, shoot four missiles. were going to assume theyre nuclear tipped. we give that to you. our intelligence assess stock market that youve got this capability. you launch one missile -- and we dont know where its going. certainly the north koreans dont know where its going. this is like lawn darts. im not trying to be flippant, but we dont have confidence in the guidance or reentry capability. but if he were to launch four missiles, whether its in sequence or simul...

The pattern that we have in the past, which is simply to acknowledge theyre launching missiles. if we give them, we acknowledge that they have a nuclear capability, kim and his regime are now at the table that would require them to be signatories of the mpt. they were before. they have to walked up and if they dont, they start launching missiles, tell me why we wouldnt assume -- >> they have launching missiles for several years, right? >> but we have not once until most recently come forward wit...

>> yeah, but we have not once until most recently come forward with an estimate that says hey, guys, theyve accelerated their production. theyve accelerated their scientific discoveries. theyve miniaturized their nukes. and we think they have the ability to marry those two together. so we are giving to them the capability that they have a nuclear delivery capability based on icbm tests and based on our assessments. >> we dont know it can reenter the earths atmosphere, though, correct? >> absolut...

The south. >> to that point, what the president said earlier today, on tuesday, which is august 15th when thenoicance have said that they are going to send ballistic missiles heading towards guam that will fall short, the president has basically set this up as a challenge, saying hey, hes going to watch that and respond. it seems like somebody has to blink on tuesday. >> i think the president of the united states probably should have said two words -- test me. go ahead. shoot a missile, shoot fo...