The US Increases Its Defenses Against the Threat of an Attack by North Korea

Today at the Pentagon, U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel announced the deployment of 14 missile interceptors in Alaska and the installation of a radar system in Japan, in response to North Korea’s belligerent rhetoric. “The collective result of these … decisions will be to further improve our ability to counter future missile threats from Iran and North Korea … ,” Hagel said at a press conference.

This announcement was made at a moment of growing tension with North Korea, which threatened the United States earlier this month with a “preemptive nuclear attack” just before the U.N. security adviser approved a new set of forceful sanctions against Kim Jong-un’s regime for its underground nuclear testing last month. According to what was published in Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the North Korean party, the U.S. “will be engulfed in a sea of fire” in the event of armed conflict.

“One of the reasons we’re doing what we’re doing based on the intelligence we have is to assure that whatever their timelines are we’re not reacting to those timelines, that we’re ahead of any timelines of any potential threat ,” said the new Secretary of Defense. Hagel declared that the additional interceptors will be in operation by the end of 2017 but did not mention when they will be deployed.

Experts confirm that North Korea is still far from being able to attack the United States with a nuclear weapon despite decades of work to build its nuclear abilities. “North Korea’s shrill public pronouncements underscore the need for the U.S. to continue to take prudent steps to defeat any future North Korean ICBM,” emphasized James Miller, the Defense Department’s policy chief. Miller added that the Pentagon was beginning environmental impact studies at the behest of Congress to deploy more interceptors in three specific locations if necessary.

The 14 interceptors that the Department of Defense plans to deploy will join the 26 already stationed in Fort Greely, Alaska. Their placement will reinforce the ability of the system to intercept long-range missiles in flight that could reach U.S. territory. Currently, the U.S. has four of these missile interceptors installed at the aerial base in Vandenberg, Calif.

The Pentagon’s decision rectifies a decision by the Obama administration in 2010 to limit the number of interceptors in Alaska to 30. The Bush administration had planned the deployment of a total of 44, some of which are among those slated for deployment currently.