Resolved: North Korea poses a more serious threat to United States national security than Iran.

A debate in public forum is composed of a first speech followed by a crossfire (opponents ask each other questions to try to prove each other wrong), then a second speech followed by a crossfire. The first speech is where you lay out your contentions. The second speech can be used to add additional points, support previous points, and/or rebut your opponent's points. There's stuff afterward, but all you need to know is what I've said thus far. I will begin my first speech now. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- With perceived threats everywhere, the United States needs to know what the most serious threat is to effectively defend national security. I favor the resolution because of 3 reasons, which I will list here. Contention 1: North Korea has developed nuclear weapons, while Iran is several years from developing them According to TASS, North Korea has uranium enrichment facilities that violate UN Security Council law. In other words, North Korea has the capability to produce uranium enriched enough to produce atomic bombs. At the same time, Trend Daily News reports that snap inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency have found no evidence that Iran was producing nuclear weapons. In fact, Israel reports that Iran won't have the capability to produce nuclear weapons until at least 2015. If any country that makes nuclear weapons is a threat, then it makes sense to say that a country that is closer to making a nuke is more of a threat than the country that has a long way to go before they can successfully make one. North Korea is much closer to making a nuke than Iran. Therefore it only makes sense to say that North Korea is a greater threat to US national security than Iran. Contention 2: North Korea has ballistic missiles and biochemical weapons, which pose a much greater threat than the terror groups that Iran support National security today seems to be all about stopping terrorism. People panic when someone wears a shirt with the word "bomb" on it. People are sent to Gitmo because of suspected terrorist intentions. People blame Wiki Leaks for giving classified information to terrorists. True, terrorism is a threat, and Iran is a terror group supporter, but the threat that Iran poses with its terror groups is dwarfed by North Korea's ballistic missile technology and biochemical weapons. North Korea has anthrax, the same bacteria some terrorists used in the Anthrax Scare in the US. But unlike the terrorists, who have to send granulated anthrax by letter, North Korea can send them as a warhead on a ballistic missile. Which is more dangerous? Which spreads disease faster: explosives or snail mail? North Korea also has chemical weapons that terrorists have no hope of getting their hands on. According to Popular Mechanics, "most assessments of North Korea's WMD capabilities point to a chemical weapons stockpile of some 5000 tons of agents, including large amounts of sarin, mustard gas and hydrogen cyanide. That would make it one of the largest chemical arsenals in the world. " In war, most casualties are not from battle or shelling, but disease, radiation, and gas. North Korea has all of these. Terrorists only have diseases. And let's not forget why there is so much hype on terrorism today. Some terror group that calls themselves Al Qaeda imitated the Japanese kamikazes of World War II and felled the Twin Towers. If the terrorists can do that, so can North Korea. North Korea has more planes than the terrorists, and they don't have to use our planes to do damage like the terrorists do. In short, North Korea can do anything that the terrorists can do, and more.