Can U.S. defend against North Korean missiles? Not everyone agrees

What "growing threat"????  does the writer genuinely think NK would launch a "first strike" on Alaska??  all this is just hysteria.

Indeed, Wakarimasen. NK has been firing missiles towards SK and Japan for a long time, but no one in the US gave a rat's arse about it, NOW it's all "Oh my god! The missile can reach the US!' Cue panic, over reaction and general hysteria. Fatboy wouldn't launch a first strike, he may be evil but he is not stupid. Inducing fear is enough.

I'd guess this is to keep the DoD budgets from getting cut in any way, shape, or form. The best way to defend against NK missiles is still called "preemptive strike", which brings another boatload of problems along with it.

Look how well Malaysia was able to prevent an assassination of a high-profile target with a banned nerve agent inside its major international airport. All it will take is one vial of weaponized smallpox, nipah virus, or chimeric bird flu in downtown NYC, Beijing, and Tokyo for fat boy to have all his opponents face down in the gutter - no nookular missiles needed.

Your feeble intelligence and security agencies have known about this for years and done nothing. Why worry about a few bottle rockets when you can just whip up some microwave popcorn and rent a DVD copy of The Stand instead.

If the Clinton and Obama administrations did not seek to thwart progress on America's missile defense for so many years maybe the US would be capable of defending itself from an ICBM by now.