Annie Jacobsen

So North Korea has, let's say, 50 nuclear weapons right now. Some NGOs put it at more than 100. It's impossible to know because North Korea's nuclear weapons program has no transparency. They're the only nuclear-armed nation that doesn't announce when they do a ballistic missile test. Everyone else does. No one wants to start a nuclear war by accident, right?

So North Korea has, let's say, 50 nuclear weapons right now. Some NGOs put it at more than 100. It's impossible to know because North Korea's nuclear weapons program has no transparency. They're the only nuclear-armed nation that doesn't announce when they do a ballistic missile test. Everyone else does. No one wants to start a nuclear war by accident, right?

So if Russia's going to launch an ICBM, they tell us. If we're going to launch one, and I'm talking test runs here, you know, with a dummy warhead, we tell them, not North Korea. That's a fact, okay? So we're constantly up against the fear of North Korea. In this scenario, I have the incoming North Korean one megaton weapon coming in, and the interceptor system tries to shoot it down.

So if Russia's going to launch an ICBM, they tell us. If we're going to launch one, and I'm talking test runs here, you know, with a dummy warhead, we tell them, not North Korea. That's a fact, okay? So we're constantly up against the fear of North Korea. In this scenario, I have the incoming North Korean one megaton weapon coming in, and the interceptor system tries to shoot it down.

So if Russia's going to launch an ICBM, they tell us. If we're going to launch one, and I'm talking test runs here, you know, with a dummy warhead, we tell them, not North Korea. That's a fact, okay? So we're constantly up against the fear of North Korea. In this scenario, I have the incoming North Korean one megaton weapon coming in, and the interceptor system tries to shoot it down.

So there's not enough time—and this, by the way, I ran through by all— generals from the Pentagon who run these scenarios for NORAD, right? And confirmed all of this as fact. This is not, this is the situation, right? So in the scenario, I have the nuclear ICBM coming in, the interceptor missiles try to shoot down the warhead. The capability is not like what's called shoot, you know, and look.

So there's not enough time—and this, by the way, I ran through by all— generals from the Pentagon who run these scenarios for NORAD, right? And confirmed all of this as fact. This is not, this is the situation, right? So in the scenario, I have the nuclear ICBM coming in, the interceptor missiles try to shoot down the warhead. The capability is not like what's called shoot, you know, and look.

So there's not enough time—and this, by the way, I ran through by all— generals from the Pentagon who run these scenarios for NORAD, right? And confirmed all of this as fact. This is not, this is the situation, right? So in the scenario, I have the nuclear ICBM coming in, the interceptor missiles try to shoot down the warhead. The capability is not like what's called shoot, you know, and look.

They can't, there's not enough time to go like, and we're going to try to get it. We missed it. Okay, let's go for another one. So you have to go. Right? So in my scenario, we fire off four, which is about what I was told would one to four because you're worried about the next one that's going to come in.

They can't, there's not enough time to go like, and we're going to try to get it. We missed it. Okay, let's go for another one. So you have to go. Right? So in my scenario, we fire off four, which is about what I was told would one to four because you're worried about the next one that's going to come in.

They can't, there's not enough time to go like, and we're going to try to get it. We missed it. Okay, let's go for another one. So you have to go. Right? So in my scenario, we fire off four, which is about what I was told would one to four because you're worried about the next one that's going to come in.

You're going to use up 10% of your missile force, of your interceptor force on one and all four miss. And that's totally plausible. Right.

You're going to use up 10% of your missile force, of your interceptor force on one and all four miss. And that's totally plausible. Right.

You're going to use up 10% of your missile force, of your interceptor force on one and all four miss. And that's totally plausible. Right.

There have been at least six known, like, absolute, like, oh, my God, close calls, how, thank God this happened type scenarios. One was described to me with an actual personal participant saying, Secretary, former Secretary of Defense Bill Perry, right? And he described what happened to him in 1979. He was not yet Secretary of Defense.

There have been at least six known, like, absolute, like, oh, my God, close calls, how, thank God this happened type scenarios. One was described to me with an actual personal participant saying, Secretary, former Secretary of Defense Bill Perry, right? And he described what happened to him in 1979. He was not yet Secretary of Defense.

There have been at least six known, like, absolute, like, oh, my God, close calls, how, thank God this happened type scenarios. One was described to me with an actual personal participant saying, Secretary, former Secretary of Defense Bill Perry, right? And he described what happened to him in 1979. He was not yet Secretary of Defense.

He was the Deputy Director of Research and Engineering, which is like a big job at the Pentagon. And it was the night watch fell on him essentially, right? And he gets this call in the middle of the night. He's told that Russia has launched Not just ICBMs, but submarine-launched ballistic missiles are coming at the United States.

He was the Deputy Director of Research and Engineering, which is like a big job at the Pentagon. And it was the night watch fell on him essentially, right? And he gets this call in the middle of the night. He's told that Russia has launched Not just ICBMs, but submarine-launched ballistic missiles are coming at the United States.

He was the Deputy Director of Research and Engineering, which is like a big job at the Pentagon. And it was the night watch fell on him essentially, right? And he gets this call in the middle of the night. He's told that Russia has launched Not just ICBMs, but submarine-launched ballistic missiles are coming at the United States.