Fort Greely, Alaska
More missiles: The Pentagon has announced plans to beef up its West Coast missile defenses in response to the rising threat from North Korea. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said he would add 14 interceptor missiles to the 26 already installed at Fort Greely in order to “stay ahead of the threat” from North Korea and Iran. “North Korea, in particular, has recently made advances in its capabilities and has engaged in a series of irresponsible and reckless provocations,” he said at a news conference. The $1 billion expansion represents an abrupt policy reversal for the Obama administration, which still insists the totalitarian state is years away from being able to launch a nuclear weapon against the U.S. Dictator Kim Jong Un has issued a series of bellicose statements during his first year in power, threatening a pre-emptive strike against Washington and vowing to turn Seoul into a “sea of fire.”
Hawthorne, Nev.
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Deadly blast: The Marine Corps has suspended the use of all 60mm mortars after eight Marines were killed in an explosion during a training exercise. The soldiers, from the 2nd Marine Division based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., were conducting live-fire training at the Hawthorne Army Depot, around 140 miles southeast of Reno, when a mortar round exploded in its firing tube. Among the seven additional soldiers wounded in the blast, four are in serious condition at the Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno, where they are being treated for penetration trauma, fractures, and vascular injuries. It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion—one of the deadliest training accidents on U.S. soil in recent years—and the mortar suspension will remain in place both in training and in deployed settings while officials investigate the incident.
Orlando
Bloodbath prevented: A speedy response from police at the University of Central Florida may have averted a campus massacre this week. After his roommate James Oliver Seevakumaran aimed an assault rifle at him, UCF student Arabo Babakhani hid in a bathroom and dialed 911. Police arrived at the dorm within three minutes, and discovered Seevakumaran dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound; they also found four bombs, a handgun, high-capacity magazines, and a detailed attack plan. Seevakumaran had written out a timeline of actions he hoped to take, and had already crossed two off the list: getting drunk, and pulling the fire alarm to get students out in the open. The last item on the list: “Give ’em hell.” Police officials believe their rapid response caused Seevakumaran to panic and abort the attack. “His timeline got off,” said an officer. “It could have been a very bad day here for everybody.”
Annapolis, Md.
Ending death row: Maryland is likely to become the 18th state to repeal the death penalty, after its General Assembly approved a measure outlawing executions. The House of Delegates voted 82–56 in favor of the bill—passed by the Senate nine days before—and Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley is expected to sign the measure when the legislative session ends in April. “Evidence shows the death penalty is not a deterrent, it cannot be administered without racial bias, and it costs three times as much as life in prison,” said the governor, who had pushed for the repeal since taking office in 2007. He will now have to decide whether to commute the sentences of the five convicted murderers currently on death row to life without parole.
Washington, D.C.
Nixonian guile: Newly declassified tapes of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s White House telephone conversations confirm that Richard Nixon sabotaged Vietnam peace talks in October 1968 in order to strengthen his own presidential campaign. In the recordings, Defense Secretary Clark Clifford tells Johnson that the FBI has overheard a Nixon campaign adviser persuading the South Vietnamese government to withdraw from peace talks, promising them a better deal if they wait until Nixon is elected. Hanoi was offering major concessions at the time, and a settlement would have allowed Johnson to stop bombing North Vietnam. Knowing that this would derail his campaign, Nixon intervened. Johnson accused Nixon of “treason,” but said nothing publicly for fear of revealing that the FBI was bugging South Vietnamese government figures. Nixon went on to escalate the war—at the expense of 22,000 more American lives—before signing a peace accord in 1973.
Washington, D.C.
No assault rifle ban: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced this week that an assault weapons ban would not be part of the Senate Democratic gun control plan. The measure would have prohibited the sale, import, and manufacture of more than 150 weapons, as well as high-capacity ammunition magazines. Reid feared the controversial ban would hurt the chances of passing other measures, such as expanded background checks for gun purchases and a crackdown on gun trafficking. “I’m not going to try to put something on the floor that won’t succeed,” he said. The decision is a blow to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who proposed the ban and had the father of a Newtown, Conn., victim testify on its behalf. “I’m not going to lay down and play dead,” said Feinstein, who vowed to present the ban as a separate amendment. “Not to give a vote on this would be a major betrayal of trust.”
