North Korea might be able to nuke the US homeland right now

foxnews.com

“All I could think about was that I would die at the hands of a madmen—and there was nothing I could do to stop it.”

These words, expressed to me by a U.S. Navy active-duty sailor based in Hawaii, go to the heart of Saturday’s accidental warning of an inbound ballistic missile that most assumed would come from North Korea. And while it seems clear Pyongyang has the necessary technology to strike South Korea and Japan with nuclear fire (along with U.S. bases in East Asia, Guam, Alaska and Hawaii), there is evidence to suggest Kim might already have an even more sinister capability: the ability to kill millions of people in the U.S. homeland with a nuclear-armed long-range missile—right now.

First, we know that Kim has missiles with the necessary range to strike America. We know this through three long-range missile tests last year – two in July and one in November. This is the most difficult part of a nuclear weapons system to develop.

Next, according to a bombshell report in the Washington Post over the summer, U.S. intelligence officials revealed they believe North Korea can militarize a warhead.

Third, while there is debate whether Pyongyang has the targeting and tracking systems needed to guide a missile towards a U.S. city, there are those in the U.S. intelligence community who think he does. One explained to me just recently on background that, “If Kim’s missiles have the range we have seen—13,000 km ICBMs—I would say it seems very likely his tracking and targeting might very well be good enough to strike something as large as a U.S. city. He won’t be able to target buildings and be precise, but if he wants to throw a nuke at something the size of Los Angeles I bet he has crude tracking and targeting for something like that.” A retired U.S. intelligence official, also speaking on background, agreed with that assessment.