Is it time to dust off the old nuclear preparedness guide? The Centers for Disease Control thinks so, and has scheduled a briefing next week with federal, state and local officials.
The timing of the briefing comes amid growing concerns of a possible conflict between the U.S. and North Korea and recent Twitter spat between the country's two leaders.
“The propaganda phrases or the Twitter or North Korean newspaper columns talking about seas of fire, that's the public persona and public perception of what's going on,” says Rodger Baker, vice president of strategic analysis at Stratfor Global Intelligence.
“Behind the scenes there are these very deep strategic elements that are looking at these situations, it doesn't mean there won't be conflict, but it does mean that it's a little more constrained than what we perhaps see in the propaganda and the media.”
Baker says we've had 50 years of relative peace between the two countries, but anything is possible.
“The reality is that's a very short period of human history and war seems to be a much more common feature of history than peace.”
However, he says neither side stands to gain anything politically, militarily or economically by attacking the other.