Florida’s governor passes executive order to combat foreign espionage, influence in the Sunshine State
The governor of Florida has announced new proposals to combat Chinese espionage near American military installations in the Sunshine State, as well as measures taken to resist social engineering by Chinese Communist Party-affiliated apps such as TikTok. Governor Ron DeSantis signed Executive Order 22-216, a wide-sweeping EO that attacks... Read more
Forget Nukes for a Minute, North Korea’s Artillery Still Is Dangerous as Hell
North Korea on Nov. 16, 2018 claimed it tested a new “ultramodern” weapon, ending a voluntary freeze on major weapons testing that began in April 2018. State-run Korean Central News Agency said Kim visited the Academy of Defense Science, a center of weapons-development in North Korea, and “supervised a... Read more
For North Korea’s Denuclearization, Look to South Africa
Much of the debate about diplomacy with North Korea has revolved around whether it will give up its nuclear weapons. Despite Kim Jong Un’s announcement that he intends to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear arsenal by 2021, questions and ambiguities still surround the diplomatic push aimed at getting Pyongyang to pursue disarmament.... Read more
Playing Trump for Peace
When, in early March 2018, Donald Trump agreed to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the Washington foreign policy elite nearly suffered a collective heart attack. For one thing, the announcement came as a complete surprise. Trump had telegraphed his other foreign policy bombshells well in advance. Leaving... Read more
No, North Korea’s Nuclear Test Site Wasn’t Destroyed in an Earthquake
Major media outlets reported on April 25, 2018 that large portions of North Korea’s underground nuclear test facility had collapsed and were unusable. The stories in The Wall Street Journal and other newspapers and websites, all citing a Chinese study first obtained by the Hong Kong-based South China Morning... Read more
North Korea Would Target U.S. Tanks With Lots of Artillery
A war with North Korea would involve the mobilization of that country’s entire population and the activation of at least 1.2 million active-duty soldiers and 7.7 million reservists. North Korea would then implement plans which the regime designed to fight — and defeat — U.S. forces on the battlefield.... Read more
The U.S. Military Is Not Prepared to Hunt This Many North Korean Missiles
Hunting ballistic-missile launchers would be one of the U.S. military’s most important tasks were hostilities on the Korean peninsula to erupt. Kim Jong Un’s arsenal could cause immense damage to South Korean cities, air bases and American and South Korean troops. But tracking the launchers from the air and... Read more
What if North Korea Had Prevailed in the Korean War?
In the summer of 1950, the Korean People’s Army came tantalizingly close to rolling up U.N. forces on the Korean peninsula. Only a heroic defense around Pusan prevented a total victory for North Korea, thus allowing Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s war-changing invasion at Inchon. But what if North Korean forces... Read more
The Trump Administration Wants a War America Cannot Win
Who knew that U.S. vice president Mike Pence would take a page out of activist athlete Colin Kaepernick’s playbook and refuse to stand for the host team’s entry at the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony on Feb. 8, 2018? The games were being held in PyeongChang, Korea — and the... Read more
The U.S. Navy Can’t Fight North Korea Alone
How can the U.S. Navy destroy North Korea should Washington give the word? It can’t. Or at least it stands little chance of doing so by its lonesome barring improbable circumstances. What the Navy can do is contribute to a joint or multinational campaign that destroys the northern regime... Read more

James Holmes

Professor of Strategy at the U.S. Naval War College.