Retired general talks about NKorean threat, drone use


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SALT LAKE CITY — If you ask retired four-star Army General Barry McCaffrey, the United States is better off security-wise now than 10 years ago.

McCaffrey was the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Southern Command from 1994 and 1996, where he was responsible for 84,000 U.S. joint military personnel. Though he says the U.S. is more secure now, he warns that emerging threats, like North Korea. He called the country one of the cruelest places on Earth.

"North Korea has more potential for tragedy unfolding than any other place on the face of the earth," McCaffrey said. "We have a young, untested leader whose father was a sociopath."

That young and untested leader, Kim Jong-un also has anywhere from three to eight nuclear devices according to McCaffrey.

"They are developing missile technology clearly right now threatens Japan, South Korea, and the U.S. armed forces in the region," he said. "In 10 to 15 years, they'll have the capacity to strike the United States."


I think we need to back off and recognize that (the drone) has become a tool of immense significance to national security.

–General Barry McCaffrey


Yet there are other forces competing for America's interests, like the the bubbling Arab Spring in Syria, the removal of forces in Afghanistan, and back home, the debate over the use of drones.

McCaffrey says he understands the questions on how drones are being used, particularly used by the Central Intelligence Agency. But as a combat veteran he knows their value.

"I spent a lot of my young life crawling around in the mud with a sack full of hand grenades having a shootout with people 20 feet away," McCaffrey said. "So the thought of a young 19-year-old on a military base can reach out and end things strikes me as a real good option."

"I think we need to back off and recognize that this has become a tool of immense significance to national security."

The general retired after 32 years in the armed forces. He is an adjunct professor at the United States Military Academy. He also works as a military analyst for NBC News. And McCaffrey is the president of his own consulting firm as well. McCaffrey will be speaking at Westminster College this evening at a free lecture that is open to the public.

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