Author Gordon Chang likened U.S. intelligence officials to Paul Revere on Tuesday, praising them for leaking information that North Korea was building new ballistic missiles near Pyongyang despite continuing nuclear talks with the Trump administration.
"The men and women in the intelligence community are not only putting their careers at risk and their freedom at risk by going and talking to the media, they want to sound the alarm," Chang, an Asian affairs expert, told Shepard Smith on Fox News. "This is like Paul Revere."
The Washington Post reported Monday spy agencies had released satellite photos and other new evidence showing new weapons being built where North Korea constructed its first ICBMs that could reach the U.S.
State Department officials declined to comment on the report, but Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has cautioned the process of denuclearizing North Korea will not be quick, urging patience instead.
President Donald Trump has also played up positive developments from last month's Singapore summit with dictator Kim Jong Un.
Chang told Smith the White House was "probably trying to create this good atmosphere for talks" with Kim in not speaking to the Post report.
"I don't think will work.
"The way that you get the North Koreans to give up the weapons is to give them no chance," Chang said. "Not win them over.
"What we have seen in administration after administration just doesn't work," he added. "The way you get the North Koreans to do something is you force them to do it."