force, as an intelligence officer, serving at pacific command headquarters. and i found then the eminence of war feeling a lot more predominant then than the situation we have today, if that's any kind of a calming influence. >> so, that's one of the things we've been wondering about this morning. this administration has gone out of its way to tee up this situation as demanding attention and urgency right now. and that gets a lot of accolades, politically. you know, that the trump administration is taking this on. but to what end, in your -- from your perspective, mr. clapper? because if it's as difficult to create any real pressure on this regime, given part of what you're saying about the mentality there and the disposition of the leader, from all outward signs, how do you reconcile giving it more attention with finding a way to make some kind of progress? >> well, there is -- there are no good options, as others have observed with north korea. so i do think a combination of