Alaska Governor: ‘Of Course I Am’ Concerned About Missile Hitting State

Gov. Bill Walker holds a news conference to discuss the state budget he recently signed and his call for a conversation on the state's system of oil and gas tax credits on Wednesday, July 1, 2015, in Juneau, Alaska. ... Gov. Bill Walker holds a news conference to discuss the state budget he recently signed and his call for a conversation on the state's system of oil and gas tax credits on Wednesday, July 1, 2015, in Juneau, Alaska. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Even before tensions between the U.S. and North Korea escalated to new levels on Tuesday, Alaska Gov. Bill Walker told Politico he “of course” is concerned about North Korea directing a missile attack at his state.

U.S. intelligence officials at the Defense Intelligence Agency have concluded that North Korea has created a nuclear weapon small enough to fit in a missile, according to The Washington Post. The country has been launching test ICBM missiles that experts say could reach parts of the U.S., including the state of Alaska.

The President told reporters Tuesday that the threat would be met with “fire and fury like the world has never seen,” which prompted North Korea to threaten to attack the American territory of Guam.

In an interview with Politico before tensions rose this week, Walker said he is concerned about being in the “trajectory zone” between the U.S. and North Korea and that the country’s ability to strike the U.S. has come to fruition much quicker than anticipated.

“It’s actually, in some respects, gotten here sooner than we thought,” he said. “We thought that the trajectory would be sometime in 2020. So we’re earlier than anticipated and we want to make sure that we’re well protected and everything.”

He said no one is panicking yet, but Walker said he would like to be prepared.

“No one’s hiding under the desk that I know of at this point,” he said. “But we do have to make sure we have the technology and awareness of what could happen.”

Latest Livewire
19
Show Comments

Notable Replies

  1. Meanwhile at the White House

    What Me Worry?

  2. Tillerson is so out of Drumpfie’s loop that I would take his reassurances with a grain of salt.

    Unless, of course, someone has already implemented a fail-safeplan in place to ensure at least a couple of layers of safety between Donnie’s mouth and the football . 'Cause he’s just insane enough to go right off the rails at 3 a.m.

    ETA: Of course, the NK Baby apparently now is within reach of his new toy, and he may just wanna try it out. So even if we’re “protected” somewhat from Donnie, there is no indication there are similar controls in NK.

  3. Please don’t insult my memory of Alfred E. Newman with pictures like that.

  4. It is in trying times like these that I am sure Alaskans long for the day when Sarah Palin was their Governor. Why, she could even see North Korea from Alaska!

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

13 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for paulw Avatar for silas1898 Avatar for deuce Avatar for easydm Avatar for teenlaqueefa Avatar for Lacuna-Synecdoche Avatar for sickneffintired Avatar for daveyjones64 Avatar for dickweed Avatar for ronbyers Avatar for mrf Avatar for georgeh Avatar for gusfabriani Avatar for lizzymom Avatar for moniker

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: