In late January 2019, President Trump was furious with his director of national intelligence for publicly contradicting him about the prospect of convincing North Korea to forsake its arsenal of nuclear bombs and ballistic missiles.

“We currently assess that North Korea will seek to retain its WMD capabilities,” Dan Coats testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee. “It is unlikely to completely give up its nuclear weapons and production capabilities because its leaders ultimately view nuclear weapons as critical to regime survival.”