Tom Marzullo is a first class analyst with a solid head on his shoulder. Not too many former submariners with Special Ops experience around besides him, and that makes an extremely potent combination when anylizing nuclear proliferation. I trust anything he says in an article with my life.
He is spot on about proliferation and rogue states, and I know he knows the business well enough to make the assessment. What I believe needs to be stated in his article is one additional fact that the article didnt address because it was outside the focus of piece.
North Korea and Iran are working on extremely long range ballistic missiles with Orbital range and the capacity to deliver a payload anywhere on planet Earth from orbit.
They are still in development and not operational, but are ONE GENERATION AWAY from deployment. They probably will be deployed within the next ten years. If they make technology advances, they could be available within 5 years.
Our problems dont just end with the terrorists. Rogue nations with orbital ballistic missiles are a very real threat to ouor existance.
Um... Adult toy shuts down airport terminal.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1503&u=/afp/australia_air_vibrator&printer=1
You raise an EXCELLENT point. I'll worry about it when we get past the AQ threat on our immediate horizon. Before I worry about the next five years, let me worry about the next five weeks. LOL
That was a solid article by Marzullo. I think the "decade" timeframe is wishful thinking. Iran can pose internationally as a slave to M.A.D. and attack us by proxy via Hezbollah.