February 09, 2018
Maximum Pressure: A Clarifying Signal in the Noise of North Korea Policy
At the height of the Roman Empire two thousand years ago, the Stoic philosopher Seneca counseled that any quest for a fulfilling life should begin with a clear objective: “Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbour he is making for, no wind is the right wind.”4
Seneca may as well have been advising policymakers on dealing with North Korea. The objectives of Washington’s North Korea policy run the gamut from the plausible to the unthinkable.
In the main, the Trump administration’s national security team supports the goal of deterring the outbreak of major war, a bedrock of bipartisan national security policy for 65 years.5 Both the Obama and Trump administrations have engaged in various shows of force and enhanced military exercises to underscore deterrence and an ironclad alliance commitment. As America’s top officer in Korea has explained, the purpose of joint U.S.-South Korean exercises is to serve the overriding goal of maintaining “a credible deterrent.”6
Read the full article in The Texas National Security Review.
More from CNAS
-
CNAS Insights | Mr. President, You Are Losing India
Last month, after Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, and Narendra Modi clasped hands in Tianjin, China, President Donald Trump concluded that the United States had “lost India and Ru...
By Lisa Curtis & Richard Fontaine
-
N. Korea Hardens Nuclear Stance at UN, Hints at Selective Diplomacy
Seven years after disappearing from the UN’s main stage, North Korea returned — and made sure the world listened. Vice Minister Kim Son-kyong stood before the General Assembly...
By Dr. Go Myong-Hyun
-
USSC Briefing Room | The Prognosis for the Quad and Other U.S. Alliances in the Indo-Pacific
In conversation with the United States Studies Centre, Director of the Indo-Pacific Program at the Center for a New American Security, Lisa Curtis discussed the Quad and the f...
By Lisa Curtis
-
Afghanistan: Why Does Trump Want to Retake Bagram Air Base?
Lisa Curtis, senior fellow and program director at the Center for a New American Security joined Deutsche Welle to discuss President Trump's comments on the U.S. regaining con...
By Lisa Curtis