[tet68]

Then again... to gamble with an American showdown if they only have 5 percent confidence that the ballistic missile system will work. Put simply, the 5 percent margin is small, but it carries with it the prospective cost of a destroyed country and hundreds of thousands of dead North Koreans.

[Steve_Seattle]

Isn’t this the kind of missile defense system that Reagan proposed nearly forty years ago, and which the Dems mocked? Thanks, Dems, now we are paying the price for your anti-American smugness.

[blackdog]

Don’t be so sure. The guidance system in the Tomahawk cruise missile was deemed an expensive failure. That was so our enemies had no idea. Decades of superiority because we were successful enough and mature enough to know that loose lips sink ships.

[Damifino]

Why is this public information?

[AndyJackson]

What Kim needs to stay focused on is the 100% probability that he and his cohorts in NK will be vapor if he takes that 5% chance. In fact if he smirks, smiles, grimaces or otherwise leads us to think a launch could be forthcoming he needs to realize that that probability is 100%.

[CardCarryingMember.VastRightWC]

Anybody else remember the political arguments over the "ABM Treaty" in the late 60s? Stood for "Anti Ballistic Missile" - ie anything that would destroy incoming ICBMs. All the usual "doves" on the political Left (who controlled Congress in those days) wanted to kill our research into this technology so as to "not provoke the Soviets into a dangerous arms race".

In 1968 in Civics Class, I chose to be on the pro ABM side in an assigned one-on-one debate. I thought my hours of extended research at the school library (remember microfilm rolls? 20-pound volumes of The Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature?) and my bullet list of arguments would win the day, because, after all, they were logical rather than emotional. But after my opponent and I each made our presentations, the class voted lopsidedly for my opponent over me.

How could I have possibly lost that debate, I wondered?

Oh, wait, maybe there's a missing piece of context I shoulda provided. This Junior High that I attended was located in .........

Boulder CO.

Nuff said.

[Intolerant in NJ]

A big cheer goes up from those who opposed Reagan’s “Starwars” years ago - see, we knew we were right -we’re glad we can claim that now, even though it puts the country at risk to let us be able to say it.....

[bgill]

Year away, huh. Sure, let’s advertise this to fat boy.

[Chode]

does anybody really think for one second that a real inbound would get only ONE counter launch???

it'll get a volley i'm sure with one sure to kill it

[clearcarbon]

Where lies the higher confidence level, a newly minted NORK ballistic missile fired from Asia or U.S. ballistic missile defense capabilities?