Navy Admiral Harry Harris made the assertion in testimony before the US Senate Armed Services Committee just a week after President Donald Trump said he was prepared to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, marking a potential diplomatic breakthrough in the nuclear standoff with Pyongyang.
"We have no bloody nose strategy," Harris said when asked whether such a strike was an option under consideration. "I believe that if we do anything along the kinetic region of the spectrum of conflict that we have to be ready to do the whole thing."