The 1 hour and 51 minute video is at the link below.  GEN Bell gives quite a tutorial on national command, OPCON, integrated ballistic missile defense and THADD, and the north Korea nuclear threat in the first hour.  He is very candid and quite blunt in his remarks but his tutorial on command relationships in Korea is very useful.  Michael O'Hanlon, Bruce Klingner and I offer our views on OPCON in the second hour.

OCT07

Defending South Korea: Transferring Wartime Operational Command (OPCON)

http://www.heritage.org/events/2014/10/defending-south-korea

The decision to return wartime operational control (OPCON) of Republic of Korea military forces to that country’s government has been controversial since its 2007 inception. Washington and Seoul appear on the cusp of again postponing the scheduled date for OPCON transition. Seoul cites North Korea’s growing nuclear capabilities as justification for delay while others argue its past time for America’s ally to assume primary responsibility for its defense.

Beyond the timing of the transfer, there are concerns that the current plan to split the combined command into two separate commands is ill-advised and potentially dangerous during hostilities. Indeed, Washington and Seoul have so fixated on OPCON transition as to be distracted from ensuring robust combined and integrated allied capabilities to deter and defeat the North Korean military threat.

Join us as General B.B. Bell, formerly the senior U.S. commander in South Korea, provides his thoughts and recommendations on this timely and important issue, followed by a panel of distinguished experts.

More About the Speakers

Featuring a Keynote Address by
General B. B. Bell, U.S. Army (ret.)
Former Commander of U.S. Forces Korea, Combined Forces Command, and United Nations Command

Followed by a Panel Discussion with
David S. Maxwell
Associate Director, Center for Security Studies, Georgetown University

Michael E. O'Hanlon
Senior Fellow and Foreign Policy Research Director, The Brookings Institution

Hosted By

Bruce Klingner

Senior Research Fellow, Northeast AsiaRead More