Any ballistic missile they would have would be trivial for our military to shoot down
There is nothing trivial about shooting down a ballistic missile.
They'd need thousands to overwhelm our defenses
This is dangerously incorrect. We only have, for instance, 30 GBIs in our entire inventory (see http://www.mda.mil/system/gmd.html). Nothing else we have will stop an ICBM.
You are right about to be worried about unconventional delivery mechanisms though
so how many more steps will have to be completed before we land a competent assessment that north korea can send a warhead to the US?
None. Nukes plus the ability to put a satellite in space equals HEMP capability (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_pulse). North Korea doesn't even have to demonstrate a viable reentry vehicle to have a nuclear weapon that scares me shitless.
Slashdot Mirror
Any ballistic missile they would have would be trivial for our military to shoot down
There is nothing trivial about shooting down a ballistic missile.
They'd need thousands to overwhelm our defenses
This is dangerously incorrect. We only have, for instance, 30 GBIs in our entire inventory (see http://www.mda.mil/system/gmd.html). Nothing else we have will stop an ICBM. You are right about to be worried about unconventional delivery mechanisms though
so how many more steps will have to be completed before we land a competent assessment that north korea can send a warhead to the US?
None. Nukes plus the ability to put a satellite in space equals HEMP capability (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_pulse). North Korea doesn't even have to demonstrate a viable reentry vehicle to have a nuclear weapon that scares me shitless.