Joseph R. DeTrani

Joseph R. DeTrani is a former Associate Director of National Intelligence and former member of the Senior Intelligence Service of the CIA. He served as special envoy for the Six-Party Talks with North Korea from 2003 to 2006 and as director of the National Counterproliferation Center. He regularly contributes columns to The Washington Times as part of the paper's Threat Status initiative.

Columns by Joseph R. DeTrani

We’ve entered a new Cold War with China

Although bilateral trade with China in 2022 increased to a record $690.6 billion, bilateral relations deteriorated to their lowest level since the normalization of relations in 1979.

March 7, 2023

U.S. has failed to halt North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons

In 1991, President George H.W. Bush ordered the withdrawal of all U.S.-based tactical nuclear weapons from South Korea.

February 2, 2023

Defuse the current impasse with North Korea

The current unprecedented escalation of tension with North Korea could result in planned or accidental conflict on the Korean Peninsula, involving conventional and possibly tactical nuclear weapons.

October 19, 2022

Iranian protesters deserve the support of all countries, especially the U.S.

The death of Masha Amini, the 22-year-old lawyer who died in the custody of the morality police, has sparked an outcry from tens of thousands of Iranians.

October 6, 2022

A more confident and desperate North Korea

On Sept. 9 Kim Jong-un made it officially clear that North Korea will remain a nuclear weapons state with an expansive nuclear doctrine that includes the preemptive use of nuclear weapons.

September 14, 2022

Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula

South Korea's new president, Yoon Suk Yeol, in his Liberation Day speech on Aug. 15, reminded the world that "denuclearization of North Korea is essential for sustainable peace on the Korean Peninsula, in Northeast Asia and around the world."

August 22, 2022

U.S.-South Korea relations and a strategy for the Indo-Pacific region

The crucible of the Korean War forged the close allied relationship between the United States and South Korea.

July 6, 2022

The potential instability of a COVID-19 ravaged North Korea

From 1994 to 1998, between 1 and 3 million North Koreans reportedly died due to starvation, during a period known as the "arduous march."

May 18, 2022

North Korea’s preemptive nuclear threat

It should be crystal clear: North Korea has nuclear weapons not only for defensive deterrence purposes but, according to Kim Jong-un, to respond to any perceived threat to North Korea and its leadership.

May 4, 2022

Tension on the Korean Peninsula

North Korea is on a roll.

March 28, 2022

China’s alignment with a revanchist Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin just doubled down, in defiance to NATO and the United States, and deployed troops and recognized Russia-backed separatists in the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, regions within Ukraine. The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said Russia's recognition of the two territories in Ukraine "is a blatant violation of international law."

February 22, 2022