Retired Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North spoke to Fox News about the various options the United States has for dealing with North Korea.
North called on the US to "press Israel on providing the Iron Dome or David's Sling systems to deal with the North Korean artillery."
The Iron Dome, North explained, would be deployed in addition to - not instead of - as many US THAAD (terminal high altitude air defense) systems as possible.
North suggested returning "the tactical nukes to the Republic of Korea that we withdrew back in the 1990s,"
In addition, he called for an additional aircraft carrier to be placed near Korea and to set up more bombers and refueling planes in Guam and Okinawa.
These steps, North explained, are "visible activities" that will may "wake up" the Chinese "polar bear."
"This is an existential threat to the United States of America, to every civilian in this country, because you never know where one of their missiles is going to go," North said, emphasizing that it needs to be clear that the US is "deadly serious."
Even the Cuban missile crisis in 1961 was not as serious as the North Korean threat, he noted. Then, the US knew that Russia wanted to survive the crisis. Now, "there's no such assurance with the Iranians or the North Koreans that they have that same survival instinct."
On Tuesday, the Washington Post reported that North Korea has already developed a miniaturized nuclear warhead capable of being fitted onto an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM), placing parts of the US within range of a North Korean nuclear strike.