STILL DOWNPLAYING THE THREAT - AT 7:55 A.M. ET:  We don't hear much from Gen. James Jones, the president' national security adviser.  He doesn't have anything near the visibility that Henry Kissinger or Condi Rice had in the same role.  He has now surfaced, proved that he is still breathing, and has pronounced on the North Korea situation:

President Obama’s national security adviser on Wednesday said that North Korea’s recent nuclear detonation and missile tests are not “an imminent threat” to the safety and security of the United States.

Retired Marine Corps Gen. James Jones, in his first speech on the administration’s approach to national security, said that the “imminent threat” posed by North Korea is that of the proliferation of nuclear technologies to other countries and terrorist organizations.

North Korea still has “a long way” to “weaponize” and work on the delivery of its nuclear missiles before they pose a threat to U.S. security, Jones said in a discussion hosted by the Atlantic Council.

COMMENT:  In the immortal words of George Gobel, let's wait one gosh-darned minute.  Review that argument again:  The Korean tests are not "an imminent threat" to the U.S.  The imminent threat is proliferation of nuclear technology to nations and terror groups.

Say what?  Isn't proliferation an imminent threat to the U.S.?  I kinda thought it was.

One purpose of White House officials is to play down threats to take pressure off the president.  I'm guessing that's at work here.  The trouble is, there are too many people in the president's extended family of mainstream reporters and editors who will take what Jones is saying at face value, and melt North Korea off the front page.

May 28, 2009