Bryan Clark, a retired submarine officer and analyst with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said the move on the heels of the Syrian strike should send a message to the allies and the North Koreans that, after years of perceived U.S. unwillingness to overly entangle itself in foreign conflicts, the U.S. is moving back to a more assertive roll. "It's a well-timed move," Clark said. "We obviously don't have the ability to strike their nuclear facilities, they are buried deep underground, but we can go after the missiles themselves while they are fueling. It's a signal to the North Koreans that we will, for the time being, have the ability to attack those facilities."
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