• US to deploy more ground-based missile interceptors as North Korea steps up threats

    Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said North Korea's long-range missiles prompted the U.S. military to bolster its missile defense system in Alaska. NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reports.

    By M. Alex Johnson, staff writer, NBC News

    The U.S. is deploying 14 new ground-based missile interceptors in Alaska to counter renewed nuclear threats from North Korea and Iran, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Friday.


    The new interceptors will be based at Fort Greely, an Army launch site about 100 miles southeast of Fairbanks, Alaska, and are projected to be fully deployed by 2017, Hagel said. The additions will bring the U.S.-based ground interceptor deployment from 30 to 44, including four that are based in California.

    That will boost U.S. missile defense capability by 50 percent and "make clear to the world that the United States stands firm against aggression," he said in a briefing at the Pentagon.

    The announcement comes as North Korea has been making bellicose threats to void the armistice that ended the Korean War and launch a nuclear attack on the U.S. The U.S. and South Korea began annual military drills this week despite the North Korean threats.

    Hagel said the U.S. would also shift some "resources," which he didn't specify, from the delayed Aegis anti-missile program in Europe to U.S.-based defenses, saying the Aegis program was "lagging" because of reduced congressional funding. And he reiterated previously announced plans to add a second U.S. anti-ballistic missile radar installation in Japan.

    North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is trying to prove his strength, causing experts to worry that Pyongyang's threats could get out of control. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.

    Taking all of the moves together, "we will be able to add protection against missiles from Iran sooner while also proving protection against the threat from North Korea," he said.

    Even before the announcement, Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., a member of the Armed Services Committee, criticized the news, saying it was too little and too late.

    "I applaud the Obama administration's decision, but it shouldn't have taken the predictable saber-rattling from North Korea to bring this about," Ayotte said in a statement Friday. 

    Pointing to Iran's nuclear program, Ayotte called on the Obama administration to "move expeditiously to construct an East Coast missile defense site."

    "Americans living in the Eastern United States should have the same level of missile defense protection as those in the West," she said.

    Courtney Kube and Kelly O'Donnell of NBC News contributed to this report. Follow M. Alex Johnson on Twitter and Facebook.

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    This story was originally published on Fri Mar 15, 2013 7:28 PM EDT

  • UK millionaire admits plot to sell missile parts to Iran after US sting operation

    By NBC News wire services

    A British millionaire accused of trying to buy missile parts from undercover American agents and resell them to Iran pleaded guilty Thursday in a deal that would carry nearly three years in prison but could allow him to serve much of that time in his native United Kingdom.

    Christopher Tappin, 66, a retired shipping magnate, had faced charges of conspiracy to illegally export defense articles, aiding and abetting the illegal export of defense articles and conspiracy to conduct illegal financial transactions.

    He pleaded guilty to one count of the indictment Thursday at a hearing in El Paso, Texas. The deal calls for 33 months in prison, but as part of the agreement, prosecutors agreed not to oppose his request to be transferred back to his home country. He had faced up to 35 years in prison.


    U.S. District Judge David Briones will decide Tappin's sentence Jan. 9. He has been living in an upscale Houston neighborhood since his release on a $1 million bond in April.

    Federal prosecutors said Tappin, of the town of Orpington, southeastern England, and two other men sought to ship zinc/silver oxide batteries for Hawk Air Defense Missiles to Iran via the Netherlands.

    Risked US national security
    U.S. Attorney Robert Pitman said in a statement that “the defendant put at risk the national security of the United States and its allies by trying to sell to Iran the batteries that make the Hawk Missiles operational."

    The federal indictment filed in 2007 said a cooperating defendant provided computer files showing Tappin was involved in the attempted battery deal and that he and the cooperating defendant had illegally sold U.S. technology to Iran in the past.

    Complete Mideast & N. Africa coverage on NBCNews.com

    The U.S. government alleged Tappin provided undercover agents with false documents to deceive authorities and circumvent the requirement for the batteries to be licensed by the government before being exported.

    Tappin's extradition in February touched a nerve in Britain, where many contend the fast-track extradition arrangements between the United Kingdom and the United States are unfairly weighted in Washington's favor.

    Iran's regular army has begun two days of ground and air military exercises. Iranian authorities say they want to increase combat readiness and deterrence against attack. NBC's Ali Arouzi reports. 

    But Tappin's attorney, Dan Cogdell, said Thursday that he didn't see much room for argument.

    "He pled guilty because he was guilty," Cogdell said.

    Tappin remained free on bond pending his sentencing. Cogdell said he expected Tappin to serve several months in a U.S. prison while authorities decided where to send him.

    Western intelligence sees 'small signs of wavering' on Iran nuclear policy

    Tappin fought extradition to the United States for two years until being denied a petition to take the case to Britain's Supreme Court. After he was brought to Texas, Tappin was held at the Otero County Jail for about two months, where he initially was put in solitary confinement at his request.

    Two men have already been sentenced to prison for charges stemming from the indictment. Robert Gibson, another British national, pleaded guilty in April 2007 and was sentenced to 24 months in prison. Robert Caldwell, from Oregon, was found guilty in July of that year and received a 20-month sentence.

    The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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