North Korea's nuclear threat is real and terrifying

We can't just bury our heads in the sand. It's time to do something.

The mushroom cloud of a hydrogen bomb
(Image credit: 1952 Reuters FILE PHOTO)

On Tuesday, The Washington Post released a devastating report about North Korea's growing nuclear and missile programs, confirming what many of us in the national security community have suspected for at least the last few years: Pyongyang now has the capability to miniaturize a nuclear warhead and place it on a missile. Oh, and not just any missile, but an intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM. You know, the type that can hit the U.S. homeland — the ones Pyongyang has been testing for the last month or so.

But from there it only gets worse. Kim Jong Un doesn't just have a dozen or so nuclear warheads, as most experts initially believed, but could have as many as 60.

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Harry J. Kazianis

Harry J. Kazianis is director of defense studies at the Center for the National Interest, founded by former U.S. President Richard M. Nixon.