Defense News:

Earlier this week, during the 8th congress of the Workers’ Party in Pyongyang, North Korea, as reported by North Korea’s Central News Agency, Kim Jong Un referred to the U.S. as “our biggest enemy” and outlined plans to upgrade the country’s nuclear forces, develop hypersonic weapons and solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles, and build the ability to strike targets out to 15,000 kilometers, which would encompass the entire United States.

The Party meeting culminated with North Korea unveiling a new submarine-launched ballistic missile, which it termed the “world’s mightiest.” This is on the heels of a parade last October, when North Korea unveiled a new ICBM — its largest ever.

We shouldn’t be surprised. These development efforts are consistent going back to at least December 2011, when Kim Jong Un succeeded his father as the leader of North Korea.

The ballistic missile threat to our homeland is real, and we need a continual dialogue on how to address it, including a layered approach. How much missile defense should we pursue when, as a department, we have many defense requirements and are faced with a flattening budget? This will be an important discussion in the coming year, as in the fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, Congress has directed the Defense Department to develop and report requirements for a proposed layered homeland defense architecture…

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