Nuclear explosion. Photo: wiki commons.

Daily Mail – A sobering assessment of the nuclear threat the United States faces over the next decade has been published – which has been jumped upon by supporters of the beleaguered missile defense shield. The Pentagon report states that China, Iran and North Korea are aggressively developing nuclear missiles capable of striking the United States and proliferation among these nations of technology is rife.

According to the Department of Defense, China, marked as the chief rival of the U.S. over the next century, will imminently be able to deploy submarine-launched ballistic missiles capable of hitting the United States from Chinese territorial waters. The 2013 Ballistic and Cruise Missile Threat Assessment, produced by the Department of Defense’s National Air and and Space Intelligence Center, adds that the number of Chinese land-based nuclear missiles able to hit the U.S. ‘could expand to well over 100 within the next 15 years.’

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