Dr. Graham Allison, who served as assistant secretary of defense in the first Clinton administration, is a leading analyst of U.S. national security and defense policy with a special interest in nuclear weapons, terrorism, and decision-making. He was a guest Tuesday on “Washington Watch” with host Tony Perkins to discuss the latest news regarding North Korea.

Allison, who is now director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, compares the current situation to “a Cuban missile crisis in slow motion.”

“That was a tense, 13-day [period] – the most dangerous moment in recorded history,” he stated. “[This will be] maybe 13 months, but not forever. So certainly in the first term [of a Trump presidency].”

If left interrupted, Allison says, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un will acquire the capability of long-range nuclear missiles.

Allison

“If Trump has to choose between attacking North Korea so that it cannot conduct more missile tests so that it won’t be able to attack the U.S., that’s option one; or option two, living with North Korea being able to attack the continental U.S. – what is he going to choose?” Dr. Allison asked.

“He said he’s going to attack – and I believe it’s quite possible that he’s going to attack.”

Such an attack by the U.S., Allison believes, could destroy the capability of North Korea to launch missiles, but he says North Korea would most likely retaliate with an artillery barrage against Seoul, probably resulting in the deaths of up to a million people in the South Korean capital.

“Then the U.S. and South Korea will destroy all of the other assets North Korea has for attacking South Korea, otherwise they may kill more people,” he continued.

“So we’ll attack all of their air, all of their missiles, all of their rockets. Well, now you just initiated the second Korean War,” he said, “and most Americans can’t remember, but in the first Korean War we were marching rapidly up the Korean peninsula when China entered the war and beat us back down to the 38th Parallel, where the divide continues today.”

Dr. Allison penned a New York Times column, published yesterday, entitled: “Thinking the Unthinkable with North Korea.”