Pentagon Gaggle

By Wendy Wang
Pentagon press focused on reports that North Korea may have detonated a nuclear weapon underground. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman was asked to confirm the intelligence data to assess that it was indeed a nuclear weapon detonated. Whitman would not specify the means of data collection used to confirm the test, stating that the Department of Defense does not hold views different from that of the US government. In a word, he would not speak at all to the data used to assess reports that North Korea had indeed detonated a nuclear weapon. Apparently the Department of Defense is not in the lead in response to the report, Whitman says. Its up to the international community to respond instead. His noncommittal response applied to questions of troop levels in the region. He would not get into any discussion of changing military presence in Asia.

Whitman did say that North Korea’s desire for a nuclear weapons test has been known for sometime and has resulted in the U.S. government and the president putting forward a proliferation security initiative. The US has an ambitious ballistic defense for a number of years and is in development for spiraling development of threats posed to the U.S. There’s an unlimited capability in terms of ballistic defense to counter "rogue threats," says Whitman.