Covert Ops and Washingtons Contingency Plans for North KoreaNile Bowie, Contributor Journalist David Axe attended the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference in Florida, and claims to have heard Army Brigade General Neil Tolley discussing the difficulties of conducting human surveillance operations in North Korea, while speaking in the present tense, referring to current operations. Axes story U.S. Commandos Spy on North Korea was pulled from The Diplomat, which later posted a clarification suggesting that Tolley was referring to future plans, rather than current operations. While the details of future US-led reconnaissance operations on North Korean soil remain questionable, Washingtons legal doctrine and policy initiatives toward Pyongyang offer further insight into future US-led directives aimed at ultimately extinguishing the North Korean threat by force. A 2009 policy-paper authored by The Council on Foreign Relations entitled Preparing for Sudden Change in North Korea advocates the deployment of up to 460,000 foreign soldiers into a post-regime North Korea to maintain security and capture Pyongyangs WMDs. The lessons of military history remain clear: unpredictable, irrational conflicts occur. Military forces must prepare to counter weapons and capabilities that exist in the near term even if no immediate likely scenarios for war are at hand. To maximize deterrence of WMD use, it is essential US forces prepare to use nuclear weapons effectively and that US forces are determined to employ nuclear weapons if necessary to prevent or retaliate against WMD use. Recommended Articles: Context of the Korean Special Forces Story, War is Boring, March 28, 2012 US, South Korea soldiers parachute into North Korea for spying: Cmdr. PressTV, March 29, 2012 Article originally posted Nile Bowies blog here. Nile Bowie is a syndicated freelance writer and photojournalist based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. linkwithin_text=Related Articles: 