Although Ayatollah Ali Khamenei seems to have blinked in responding to the U.S raid that killed Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani, President Trump should not relax his guard against Iran’s maturing existential threat to all Americans. Read Full Story
“Iran appears to be preparing another satellite launch after twice failing this year to put one in orbit, despite U.S. accusations that the Islamic Republic’s program helps it develop ballistic missiles.” ~ Jon Gambrell, Associated Press, August 18, 2019 Read Full Story
An old adage is that “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Hopefully, that adage is true and can illustrate an apparent existential threat to all Americans that North Korea already poses. It is not a new threat — North Korea years ago demonstrated its inherent capability to deliver that threat, once it gains sufficient nuclear weapons. Now we know Kim Jong Un has the nuclear weapons to execute that existential threat with plenty left over, even while our preparations to counter it seem minimal. We should urgently correct this mistaken set of priorities! Read Full Story
“Certainly, we do not want for things to get to a military conflict . . .” but if North Korean leaders “elevate the threat of their weapons program to a level that we believe requires action, that option [a military response] is on the table.” ~Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Reuters, March 17, 2017 Read Full Story
Two Idiomatic Meanings: 1) “To attempt to stay cheerful in a dire situation; to proceed with a task, ignoring an upcoming hazard, hoping for a good outcome;” or 2) ”To enter a situation with little or no understanding of the possible consequences.” . . . Take your pick. Read Full Story
Intelligence agencies are closely watching preparations in Iran to test a Simorgh space launch vehicle that U.S. officials say is the base for Tehran’s covert program to develop long-range nuclear missiles. Bill Gertz, February 18, 2016 Read Full Story
“I continue to be concerned about Iranian malign activity in the region to include here [in Iraq], and the possibility of Iranian aggression and the possibility that Iran will not obey the agreement, which we’ll find out, because there’s got to be inspections and [verification] and so forth . . . We will keep the military option, which was the alternative to a deal . . . [It] doesn’t solve all problems over in this part of the world, and it doesn’t solve all problems emanating from Iran. …It’s an agreement that places important limitations upon Iran, places no limits on us, and it doesn’t place any limits on anything we do with anybody in this region.” Defense Secretary Ashton Carter to the Troops in Iraq, as reported by Breitbart News on July 24. Read Full Story
The Deal with Iran is a bad, bad deal—and the debate over its future acceptance will no doubt be very political in the coming weeks. Unfortunately, this debate ignores an existing Iranian capability to attack the United States with nuclear weapons they may rapidly obtain, if they don’t have them already. And this means of attack poses an existential threat to all Americans—just what the Iranian mullahs and their followers say they want when they chant “Death to America.” Beware of an EMP attack from a satellite launched southward from Iran (or North Korea). Wake up America! Read Full Story
We have opportunities for diplomatic initiatives to benefit the United States and our allies while defending against fractional orbital bombardment system (FOBS) attacks from North Korea and Iran. Such initiatives should be easily attached to agreements for defense cooperation, as evidenced by the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) with the Philippines and discussions in Abu Dhabi—both of which set the stage for rapid follow through to end our total FOBS vulnerability and cooperate on regional defenses for our allies as well. Read Full Story
On his trip to the Pacific Rim, President Obama should set the stage for almost immediately ending America’s current vulnerability to the existential electromagnetic pulse (EMP) threat posed by North Korea’s Fractional Orbital Bombardment System (FOBS) capability. Beyond unilateral measures—the U.S. could deploy a TPY-2 radar in the Philippines to help defend them from North Korea and to empower our Aegis ships in the Pacific and our ground-based interceptors in California to shoot down a FOBS attack before it reaches U.S. Territory. Read Full Story
We will be adding key policy briefs as we progress.