Roughead: Nonstate users could get missiles

The prospect of ballistic and cruise missiles in the hands of nonstate users is fast developing as a significant threat, according to the U.S. Navy’s top uniformed officer.

Identifying some of the developments being tracked as major threats to the Navy, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead told reporters during a briefing here that the acquisition of ballistic and cruise weapons ranks alongside the proliferation of advanced quiet submarines and cyber attacks as causes for concern in the future.

“The [threat] areas that I see developing most rapidly, and likely most problematically, in the future is the proliferation of ballistic and cruise missiles,” he said. “It is not necessarily a state-to-state proliferation; we see that proliferation going beyond states.”

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