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Joseph R. DeTrani

Joseph R. DeTrani

jdetrani@washingtontimes.com

Joseph R. DeTrani is a former Associate Director of National Intelligence and former member of the Senior Intelligence Service of the CIA. He served as special envoy for the Six-Party Talks with North Korea from 2003 to 2006 and as director of the National Counterproliferation Center. He regularly contributes columns to The Washington Times as part of the paper's Threat Status initiative.

Columns by Joseph R. DeTrani

North Korea's alliance with Russia illustration by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times

North Korea’s alliance with revanchist Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit North Korea this week. This is unsurprising, given that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited Russia last September and met with Mr. Putin at the Vostochny Cosmodrome Space Launch Center.

June 18, 2024
Russia and China illustration by Linas Garsys / The Washington Times

China’s embrace of a Russian pariah state

Russian President Vladimir Putin's two-day summit last week with Chinese President Xi Jinping was an opportunity for both countries to challenge the U.S. and its leadership role in the global community.

May 21, 2024
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People, Friday, April 26, 2024, in Beijing, China. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, Pool)

China’s election disinformation operations

Secretary of State Antony Blinken's recent meetings in Beijing with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Foreign Minister Wang Yi permitted both countries to again recite their list of concerns affecting bilateral relations.

April 30, 2024
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida illustration by Linas Garsys / The Washington Times

Japanese Prime Minister Kishida’s successful visit

The state visit of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was a timely reminder by one of our closest allies that the tense situation in East Asia will require even greater U.S. global leadership.

April 16, 2024
Vote for democracy in Taiwan and not trust China illustration by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times

A vote for democracy in Taiwan

The Democratic Progressive Party candidate, Lai Ching-te, won Taiwan's Jan. 13 presidential election with over 40% of the vote.

January 23, 2024
U.S. engaging with North Korea to stop nuclear threat illustration by Linas Garsys / The Washington Times

The North Korean existential nuclear threat

On Dec. 18, North Korea successfully launched a solid fuel, road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile that was assessed to travel over 15,000 kilometers (9,320 miles), capable of targeting the entire U.S.

January 4, 2024
In this image from video handout provided by the Philippine Coast Guard, a Chinese Coast Guard ship, bottom, uses water cannon Philippine coast guard patrol ship, BRP Cabra, center, as it approaches Second Thomas Shoal, locally known as Ayungin Shoal, in the disputed South China Sea on Sunday Dec. 10, 2023. The Chinese coast guard assaulted three Philippine vessels with water cannon blasts Sunday and rammed one of them, causing serious engine damage off a disputed shoal in the South China Sea just a day after similar hostilities at another shoal, the Philippine coast guard said. (Philippine Coast Guard via AP)

Preventing conflict in the South China Sea and the Korean Peninsula

At a Track 2 conference (former officials and academics) with China on U.S.-China relations, convened after the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, conference in San Francisco, one of the subjects discussed was the need to avoid military confrontation.

December 21, 2023
In this photo released by Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service, from left: Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Jeyhun Aziz, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan pose for a photo during their meeting in Tehran, Monday, Oct. 23, 2023. (Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service via AP)

Dealing with an emboldened Iran

The terrorist attack on Israel, which killed more than 1,400 Israelis and foreigners and injured thousands, with over 200 hostages, was aided by a complicit Iran that provided training, funding and support to Hamas.

October 23, 2023
An American flag placed along with a photo of the Twin Towers and the name Daniel P. Trant, a Cantor Fitzgerald bond trader that died during 9/11, before ceremonies to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021, at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York. (Anthony Behar, Pool Photo via AP)

Remembering September 11, 2001

We will never forget the 2,983 men, women and children killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and United Airlines Flight 93 -- or the Feb. 26, 1993, bombing of the World Trade Center.

September 11, 2023
Illustration on U.S. global leadership and democracy by Linas Garsys/The Washington Times

Autocracy or democracy: Let the people decide

The Camp David Summit of the U.S., South Korea and Japan was emblematic of an alliance that showed that democracies with the rule of law are responsive to the people and will unite to defeat a threatening adversary.

September 7, 2023
A TV screen shows an image of North Korea's rocket launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, on June 1, 2023. The United States and its allies clashed with Russia and China on Friday, June, 2, over North Korea’s failed launch of a military spy satellite this week in violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions, which Moscow and Beijing refused to condemn.(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Instability in Northeast Asia

It should be obvious that North Korea's recent launch of three intercontinental ballistic missiles in 2023 is a message not only to the U.S. but also to China and the rest of the region.

July 15, 2023