Trump Lashes North Korea, Slams Iran Nuclear Deal in U.N. Speech

President Donald Trump used his debut address at the United Nations General Assembly to threaten that the United States would have “no choice but to totally destroy” North Korea if forced to defend itself or its allies and to criticize the Iran nuclear deal as an “embarrassment” to the U.S.

“I suspect the speech played well with the president’s core supporters because of its fidelity to the America First theme and its generally tough tone,” former Acting Director of the CIA John McLaughlin told The Cipher Brief. “But he has to be careful with a broad global audience to strike a more balanced pose if he cares at all about his international standing.”

“The Cipher Brief has become the most popular outlet for former intelligence officers; no media outlet is even a close second to The Cipher Brief in terms of the number of articles published by formers.” —Sept. 2018, Studies in Intelligence, Vol. 62

Access all of The Cipher Brief’s national security-focused expert insight by becoming a Cipher Brief Subscriber+ Member.

Subscriber+


Related Articles

How Safe Would We Be Without Section 702?

SUBSCRIBER+EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW — A provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that has generated controversy around fears of the potential for abuse has proven to be crucial […] More

Search

Close