Story highlights Rice acknowledges the failure of previous administrations to rein in North Korea's nuclear program

She says a pre-emptive strike would be foolish and catastrophic

Washington (CNN) Former national security adviser Susan Rice said Thursday the United States should rule out a pre-emptive strike on North Korea, casting President Donald Trump's "fire and fury" comments as dangerous.

"A pre-emptive war, if one were actually thinking of executing that, would be catastrophic," Rice said on CNN's "Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer."

She said the "hot rhetoric" coming from both Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un could move the nations closer to war.

Rice, who was US ambassador to the United Nations under President Barack Obama before becoming his top national security aide, said the United States should instead continue to rely on deterrence, the threat of a swift and massive military response should North Korea move to attack the United States or its allies, as a way to dissuade North Korea from attacking.

She said the President had articulated the logic of deterrence in his comments earlier Thursday.