Council Cabinet: The Growing Threat of North Korea & Options for President Trump
About The Event
For decades North Korea has been one of the world’s most closed, menacing, repressive and least understood nations in the world. Since coming to power, 33 year-old leader Kim Jong-un has escalated North Korea’s threat to both the region and the U.S. with: his rapid acceleration of nuclear and long-range missile programs; his increased willingness to disregard China, its only reliable ally; and the execution of any potential challengers to his authority, including his own uncle.
How close is North Korea to being able to pair a nuclear warhead with a missile that could strike the U.S. mainland? Why has China seemingly allowed North Korea to become such a reckless and now nuclear power? And what good political, economic and potentially military options could Trump use to counter the rising danger of North Korea?
About The Speaker
Richard Fontaine is the President of the Center for a New American Security. He previously served as foreign policy advisor to Senator John McCain for more than five years. Fontaine has also worked at the State Department, the National Security Council and on the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He served as foreign policy advisor to the McCain 2008 presidential campaign and, following the election, as the minority deputy staff director on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Prior to this, Fontaine served as associate director for Near Eastern affairs and in the Asian Affairs directorate at the National Security Council. While at the State Department, he worked in the office of former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and in the department’s South Asia bureau. Fontaine is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and has been an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. He also served as the chairman of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the United States. Fontaine graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in International Relations from Tulane University. He also holds a M.A. in International Affairs from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and he attended Oxford University.