Just as MAD was becoming just a magazine again, as opposed to an aspect of National Defense, we learn:
North Korea has the capability of mounting a nuclear warhead on its missiles that could hit the United States, a senior US defense official said. Vice Admiral Lowell Jacoby, the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, gave the assessment during a Congressional hearing.
Asked by Senator Hillary Clinton whether North Korea had the ability to arm a missile with a nuclear device, Jacoby said: "The assessment is that they have the capability to do that, yes, ma'am." He said that North Korea also had the ability to deploy a two-stage intercontinental missile that could successfully hit US territory.
The New York Times has more. Clearly this complicates US thinking as regards Iran and teh greater middle-east to some degree. The recent history of our intelligence services also suggests that estimates or assumptions such as this may or may not be accurate.
The US will need to be sure that it's intelligence assets develp as much knowledge as possible before taking a more public stand on this issue. However, if it is accurate, any negotiations with Korea immediately take on a more ominous tone.
If President Bush accepts that judgment, it could significantly complicate choices he must make in the next several months. North Korea declared publicly for the first time in February that it had nuclear weapons. Earlier this month, American spy satellites detected that the country had shut down its nuclear power plant at Yongbyon and could be preparing to reprocess the plant's spent fuel, a move that could result in the production of enough plutonium to build up to two or three more nuclear bombs.
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