Washington – The Pentagon’s top military intelligence officer said Thursday that North Korea has the ability to arm a missile with a nuclear device, stunning senators he was addressing and prompting attempts by other defense and intelligence officials later to play down the impact.
The statement by Vice Adm. Lowell Jacoby before the Senate Armed Services Committee marked the first time that a U.S. official had publicly attributed such a capability to North Korea.
Although U.S. intelligence officials have said for years that North Korea possesses nuclear weapons and could likely reach the U.S. with its long-range rockets, they had stopped short of asserting that North Korea had mastered the difficult task of miniaturizing a nuclear device to fit on a ballistic missile.
Later in the day, the Defense Intelligence Agency, which Jacoby heads, issued a statement seeking to portray the admiral’s assessment as nothing new and still largely theoretical. It cited his testimony last month before the same committee in which he said North Korea is developing a missile that could deliver a nuclear warhead to parts of the U.S.
But those comments dealt with the ability of the North Korean missile, known as the Taepo Dong 2, to go the distance with a nuclear warhead – not whether North Korea could actually mount such warheads on its missiles.
Other DIA and CIA officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, went further in seeking to play down Thursday’s testimony.
They said the intelligence community’s assessment of North Korea’s nuclear-missile capability had not changed. It remains that North Korea is still some years away from being able to put nuclear warheads on long-range missiles.
But several Senate staff members who heard the testimony and have access to U.S. intelligence on North Korea indicated that Jacoby’s comments did, in fact, reflect some recent information they had seen, although they expressed surprise that the admiral had gone public with the new assessment.
“He may not have meant to say it in a public forum,” one staff member speculated.
Another Senate official said there is considerable support within the intelligence community for the idea that North Korea has successfully miniaturized a nuclear warhead for a missile.
President Bush, speaking at a news conference Thursday night about North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, said: “There is concern about his capacity to deliver a nuclear weapon. We don’t know if he can or not, but I think it’s best, when you’re dealing with a tyrant like Kim Jong-Il, to assume he can.”
Jacoby’s remarks were made in response to questions from Sen. Hillary Rodman Clinton, D-N.Y. Senate aides said the questions had been carefully crafted in consultation with the committee staff.
“Admiral, let me ask you, do you assess that North Korea has the ability to arm a missile with a nuclear device?” Rodham Clinton said.
“The assessment is that they have the capability to do that, yes, ma’am,” Jacoby replied.
U.S. estimates of North Korean efforts to develop nuclear weapons and build long-range missiles have critical importance for the Bush administration’s vigorous effort to develop anti-missile systems.
They also bear on the administration’s diplomatic drive in “six-party” talks with Japan, China, South Korea and Russia to halt the North Korean weapons program. North Korea has snubbed the talks since June and, according to U.S. officials, appears to have built up its stockpile of nuclear material.
