Former CIA Director Michael Hayden said Tuesday that President-elect Donald Trump needs to rein in the "pathological little gangster state" North Korea before it has the chance to "obliterate Seattle."
Hayden, writing as a contributor on The Hill website, directed his message to Trump ahead of his inauguration in January.
"It's not that we haven't been trying to forestall this. We've had four-party talks, six-party talks, the Agreed Framework. We've tried international isolation, U.S. sanctions, U.N. sanctions, Chinese pressure, even 'strategic patience.' Some political scientist is going to make a killing writing a book comparing and contrasting all these approaches," Hayden wrote.
"The common denominator of all this has been a near relentless development of weapons and delivery systems."
Hayden, a retired General who served in the George W. Bush administration and also served as the head of the National Security Agency, supported neither Trump nor Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. He wrote in The Hill he worries about the development of North Korea's nuclear weapons and Trump should, too.
He suggested three options: To prevent North Korea’s nuclear progress, give Pyongyang recognition as a nuclear power followed by a peace agreement, or a more restrained approach.
"This is all tough — and dangerous — stuff. But, to be fair, is there anything more dangerous than maintaining today's course," Hayden said.
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