Diplomacy is no longer a possible option when it comes to North Korea's increasing threats and missile test launches, and that will leave President Donald Trump with the "most significant decision" of his presidency, former acting CIA director Michael Morell said Monday.
"On paper, there are three options," Morell, now a senior adviser for Beacon Global Strategies, told CBS "This Morning."
"There's continued diplomacy. There is at one end of the spectrum acceptance along with containment and deterrence. At the other end of the spectrum is military action. I don't believe that diplomacy is a possible option."
The United States has been trying diplomacy when it comes to North Korea for the past 25 years, Morell continued, and he thinks President Donald Trump is "right when he says diplomacy has failed."
That leaves the United States with the two extremes, and deciding what to do will be the "defining national security issue" of Trump's presidency.
The object of containment, he continued, will involve the United States "making absolutely clear" to North Korea, as it did to the former Soviet Union, that if it either uses or sells its weapons, "that will be the end of the regime. We have to make that crystal clear to them."
That must be done through both actions and words, and by sending "somebody to North Korea and sit down with them and say "this is what will happen to you if you ever attack us," said Morell.
Morrell said he believes there will be several options discussed in the White House, including the extreme option of the United States taking out every nuclear and missile facility that it's aware of, taking out weapons among the demilitarized zone, or even going after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
In addition, the risks that could come with military action, including the "horrific possible war" that could result if the United States or its allies attack North Korea.
"Horrific means a second Korean war, attacks on Seoul, 25 million people," said Morell. "That's what horrific means in that content. In the acceptance context, horrific means someday this man might decide to use nuclear weapons against the continental United States. Those will be the issues the president will be addressing as he tries to make that decision."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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