Readers discuss whether military defense and deterrence or diplomacy is most effective.
To the Editor:
In the last few months, North Korea has tested a more powerful nuclear weapon and a three-stage rocket that could reach targets on the West Coast. As the country works to combine these technologies into a long-range nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile, the United States should be taking concrete steps to better protect its citizens.
Our most important protection against Pyongyang's bomb is the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense missile defense network. Interceptors in Alaska and California have proved they can stop an incoming ICBM with eight successful test kills, leading the White House to declare that we are now "capable of defending against any North Korean ballistic missile attack." But we must continue to improve radars and expand our interceptor fleet to handle larger-scale raid attacks.
Missile defense has broad bipartisan support; President Obama praised the system in his State of the Union address, and Congress has voted to study expanding it to the East Coast, which was recently recommended by the National Academies of Science. But missile defense doesn't need cheerleaders; it needs funding.
The administration's proposal to cut our total nuclear forces in hopes of persuading other nations to do the same is a bad idea. Nothing is going to persuade North Korea to give up its hard-earned nukes, nor can we prevent it from transferring nuclear weapons technology to Iran. We need a strong deterrent to convince Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea, that there's no upside to attack and to assure our allies that they need not seek out nuclear weapons of their own. We can't stop Kim Jong-un from building a nuclear bomb; let's not give up the tools to stop him from using one.
JAMES A. LYONS Jr.
Warrenton, Va., March 11, 2013
The writer, a retired Navy admiral, was commander of the Pacific Fleet from 1985 to 1987.
Readers React
Admiral Lyons is a strident voice of the military-industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned us about many years ago. By vastly exaggerating North Korea's current missile capabilities, he has become part of the overall demonization of North Korea and its leaders that has kept us from talking to them seriously and patiently as we did with South Korea when it developed a secret nuclear program 40 years ago.
North Korea says it no longer validates the 60-year-old armistice that ended the fighting in the Korean War but has never brought peace. Pyongyang wants a peace treaty with us, and to achieve that we need to talk to the North Korean government, something that Admiral Lyons apparently does not consider a worthy tactic.
He seems to prefer that we keep mute and spend additional billions on missile defense while North Korea becomes a full-blown nuclear power, which could trigger similar programs in South Korea and Japan.
DONALD P. GREGG
Armonk, N.Y., March 14, 2013
The writer was United States ambassador to South Korea from 1989 to 1993.
One of Admiral Lyons's key assertions is: "The administration's proposal to cut our total nuclear forces in hopes of persuading other nations to do the same is a bad idea." It is not. Neither North Korea nor Iran has anything to gain by launching nuclear attacks on any country. A nuclear assault by North Korea on South Korea and the United States and by Iran on Israel would be catastrophic globally.
If President Obama's aim is to initiate nuclear disarmament negotiations with other nuclear-armed countries, he should say so publicly. His next step should be an open declaration that the United States will not attack either North Korea or Iran if not threatened with a nuclear attack, and that America will assist both countries economically if they give up their nuclear ambitions.
K. NARAYAN KUTTY
Mansfield Center, Conn., March 13, 2013
Protecting our country from missile attacks by rogue governments is a no-brainer. What is so surprising to me is the failure of this administration to pre-empt the horrible prospect of a nuclear Iran, with the capability to develop and acquire (from North Korea) the means to threaten Europe, destroy Israel and perhaps reach the United States (certainly our military bases).
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