“Every day that goes by makes North Korea a more dangerous country,” John Bolton said at CSIS. “When does it become too late? Today is better than tomorrow. Tomorrow is better than the next day.”

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak: “In North Korea, we saw war threats that ended in hugs, a dead end in negotiations, hugs again, and then the story repeats all over again. The same could happen with Iran.”

There is “a significant opportunity for the United States to come to the table and negotiate with North Korea and at least begin the steps to take the program back,” says Ranking HASC Member Mike Turner.

The Heritage Foundation is pretty much the only Washington thinktank President Trump ever mentions and he’s been known to refer to their analyses when he speaks about defense. So, when one of Heritage’s experts wants to rebut the arguments of one of the top defense Democrats on Capitol Hill, we’re inclined to give them a… Keep reading →

Rep. Adam Smith called into question the decades-old backbone of US nuclear policy, while calling for a “total redo” of the Nuclear Posture Review the Pentagon released earlier this year.

“Things are moving (in) a positive direction,” Gen. Hyten said of North Korean, while Russia’s new 2-megaton underwater drone “does not change” the strategic balance.

WASHINGTON: There’s a new admiral in charge at the renamed Indo-Pacific Command, Adm. Philip Davidson. Davidson, as we’ve noted, has relatively little firsthand experience with the peoples and region over which he will now command 60 percent of the US Navy fleet, along with substantial Marine, Army and Air Force assets throughout the region. Davidson, as… Keep reading →

HONOLULU:  More than 3.5 million Americans and South Koreans could be casualties should North Korea attack Camp Humphrey, the huge American military base. The camp, thought to be the most likely target for a North Korean nuclear weapon should war occur, is south of the South Korean capital, Seoul, but if Kim Jong Un used… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: “When does that moment come when their program matures and goes across those redlines? At the pace we’re on, it’s just a matter of time. If something doesn’t change, it will be inevitable these redlines are met — if there’s another test of a warhead.” Sen. Lindsey Graham appeared to document one of the redlines he… Keep reading →

This is a list of the most important stories and opinion pieces we ran at Breaking Defense in 2017. It’s a bit like our coverage: freewheeling, often unexpected and, hopefully, poking at the spots where policymakers in the US, NATO, Australia, Japan, South Korea and our other treaty allies and partners need to look. We… Keep reading →