Reporting on Defense Secretary Roberts Gates’ decision to deploy the SBX sea-based radar system to Hawaii in anticipation of a new North Korean missile test, the Los Angeles Times‘ Julian Barnes writes on June 18th:

According to reports in Japanese media, the North Koreans appear to be preparing to conduct their next long-range test around July 4. Experts believe that because the last long-range missile test failed, Pyongyang has more to prove and may see another test as necessary.

But the April 5th North Korea missile test was far from a failure. Award winning journalist Craig Covault reports:

New details emerging from the analysis of data from North Korea’s April 5 Taepo-Dong-2 test indicate the vehicle flew successfully several hundred miles further than previously believed and used more advanced steering than has been demonstrated by the North Korean’s before.

The rocket impacted as far as 2,390 miles from the launch site as opposed to about 1,900 miles as earlier announced by the U. S. and Japan.

This was a marked improvement from the 2006 North Korea missile test that exploded soon after launch. The North Koreans still have a long way to go before their missiles are capable of reaching Hawaii (distance between Pyongyang and Honolulu is about 4500 miles), but the American people deserve to know about the pace of their progress.