Arms Control Today articles from December 2008

Arms Control Today archives from December 2008

Editor's note.
December 1, 2008... President-elect Barack Obama will take office next month as the United States finds itself at a crucial crossroads in its nuclear weapons policy. Within the next year, the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) with Russia is set to...

CTBT: now more than ever.(FOCUS)(Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty)
December 1, 2008... President-elect Barack Obama's November victory represents a clear mandate for change on a number of national security issues. One of the most decisive ways in which Obama can restore U.S. nonproliferation leadership and spur action toward a...

Notable quotable.(In BRIEF)(Ellen Tauscher)(Quotation)
December 1, 2008... "I believe we can demonstrate to the world that we are not expanding our nuclear capability--quite the opposite--and still be good stewards of the limited capabilities we maintain. From 1994 to 2004, we had a law on the books called...

The new administration and the future of arms control.(Twenty Years Ago in ACT)(Robert S. McNamara)(Quotation)
December 1, 2008... The beginning of the end of the Cold War may be at hand. At a minimum, we have the greatest opportunity in four decades to probe the degrees to which the global military confrontation can be diminished and the political one made safer....

Select UN first committee votes.(In BRIEF)(United Nations)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... 141-5-6 Resolution calling for accelerating the implementation of nuclear disarmament commitments and moving toward a nuclear-weapon-free world. China joined the majority voting yes. France, India, Israel, North Korea, and the United...

Comprehensive test ban treaty.(Treaty Update)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... On Nov. 4, Mozambique ratified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), On Nov 21. Lebanon and Malawi did as well, bringing the total number of ratifying states to 148. On Nov. 10, Indonesia and the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive...

Bratislava nuclear security initiative.(Treaty Update)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... The Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) reported Nov. 12 that the project to secure nuclear fuel at the Mayak Production Association in Ozersk, Russia was successfully completed. The facility provides long...

UAE-U.S. nuclear cooperation.(Treaty Update)(United States and the United Arab Emirates)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... The United States and the United Arab Emirates initialed a nuclear cooperation agreement in November and expect to sign it soon if they are confident that it will not face significant opposition on Capitol Hill. With its booming economy...

United Kingdom.(Conventional Arming and Disarming)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... The United Kingdom's request to retransfer 24 Eurofighter jets from its inventory to Saudi Arabia was approved by the United States. It also cleared the way for the sale of another 48 new-build aircraft. According to a 2007 deal worth $9...

Sudan.(Conventional Arming and Disarming)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Sudan's Defense Minister, Abdul Rahim Mohammed Hussein, said during a visit to Moscow on Nov. 14 that Russia has sold it MiG-29 fighter jets, according to RIA Novosti. The U.N. Security Council imposed an embargo on sales and deliveries of arms...

Lebanon.(Conventional Arming and Disarming)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Lebanon's demining program will receive $825,000 in new funds according to a press release by the United States embassy in Beirut. Together with the new funds, the total U.S. contribution for nonproliferation, antiterrorism, and de-mining...

Sweden.(Conventional Arming and Disarming)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Sweden's decision to sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions means that It will end the manufacture of Bomb capsule 90, a munition included in the weapons equipping the Jas Gripen fighter aircraft.

On the calendar.(military conventions)(Table)(Calendar)
December 1, 2008... Dec. 1-5 Annual meeting of states-parties to the Biological Weapons Convention, Geneva. Dec. 2-5 Thirteenth session of the Conference of States-Parties to the Chemical Weapons...

A fresh start? An interview with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.(Interview)
December 1, 2008... Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, Russia's new ambassador to the United States, has assumed his post at a critical time in U.S. Russian relations and at a point when presidential transitions are underway in both Moscow and Washington. Kislyak has...

A different kind of complex: the future of U.S. nuclear weapons and the nuclear weapons enterprise.(The U.S. Nuclear Arsenal)
December 1, 2008... In an October 28 speech to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace entitled "Nuclear Weapons and Deterrence in the 21st Century," Secretary of Defense Robert Gates noted the continued importance of U.S. nuclear weapons for deterring...

After the Reliable Replacement Warhead: what's next for the U.S. nuclear arsenal?(The U.S. Nuclear Arsenal)
December 1, 2008... The Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) as envisioned by the Bush administration is effectively dead. This past fall, for the second year in a row, the Democratic Congress zeroed out funding for the RRW program despite Bush administration claims...

Time for a systematic analysis: U.S. nuclear weapons and nuclear proliferation.(The U.S. Nuclear Arsenal)
December 1, 2008... The 2008 National Defense Authorization Act requires the next secretary of defense, in consultation with the secretaries of energy and state, to conduct a comprehensive review of the nuclear weapons posture of the United States. The review...

Arms control today 2008 presidential Q&A: president-elect Barack Obama.(Special Section)(Interview)
December 1, 2008... Arms Control Today (ACT) posed a series of detailed questions on arms control and nonproliferation issues to the major presidential nominees. Published here are the responses ACT received on September 10 from Sen. Barack Obama about how he...

Start decision put off to 2009.(In The NEWS)
December 1, 2008... President-elect Barack Obama's to-do list grew longer in late November when the United States and other states-parties to the expiring START deferred a final decision on the nuclear accord's future. Working primarily with Russia, the incoming...

UK auditor criticizes Trident renewal plan.(EUROPE AND THE FORMER SOVIET UNION)
December 1, 2008... The United Kingdom's National Audit Office (NAO) has questioned the Ministry of Defense's ability to replace its aging Trident nuclear missile submarines before they start being retired from service in the early 2020s. In a Nov. 5 report, the...

Correction.(Correction notice)
December 1, 2008... * On page 50 of Arms Control Today's October 2008 issue, the news analysis "Type, Targets of Sanctions Shift in Bush Administration" and its accompanying graphs should have taken into account six additional Iranian entities sanctioned under...

Anti-missile systems uncertainty grows.(THE UNITED STATES AND THE AMERICAS)
December 1, 2008... The election of Barack Obama as the next U.S. president has triggered greater uncertainty about the future of U.S. anti-missile projects, particularly the disputed plan to deploy long-range systems in Europe despite strenuous Russian...

Air Force reorganizes nuclear commands.(THE UNITED STATES AND THE AMERICAS)
December 1, 2008... In the wake of several highly publicized incidents in which the Air Force failed to properly handle its nuclear mission as well as several subsequent critical reports, the Air Force Oct. 24 released a "Nuclear Roadmap" detailing organizational...

GAO report calls for revamped PSI.(THE UNITED STATES AND THE AMERICAS)(Government Accountability Office, Proliferation Security Initiative)
December 1, 2008... Since 2003, U.S. officials have credited the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) with a number of successes in preventing the transfer of unconventional weapons materials to states and nonstate actors. According to a Nov. 10 Government...

CCW fails to reach cluster munitions pact.(THE WORLD)(Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons)
December 1, 2008... In November, delegates to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) failed to reach agreement on a new protocol specifically addressing cluster munitions, but committed to continue work in 2009. Countries possessing the vast majority...

The Convention on Cluster Munitions.(Treaty ANALYSIS)
December 1, 2008... On Dec. 3, more than 100 countries are expected to sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) during a ceremony in Oslo. If at least 30 states deposit their instruments of ratification that day as anticipated, the new treaty should enter...

Nuclear suppliers make progress on new rules.(THE WORLD)
December 1, 2008... Efforts by nuclear suppliers to develop tougher rules restricting transfers of sensitive nuclear technologies appear to have made progress during Nov. 19-20 meetings in Vienna, according to diplomats involved in the process, with the...

Arms trade treaty discussion creeps forward.(THE WORLD)
December 1, 2008... More than 140 countries voted at the UN First Committee to continue discussion next year on the creation of a global arms trade treaty, marking some progress on a resolution first passed in 2006. The United States voted against the measure and...

UN sets ground for future disarmament battles.(THE WORLD)
December 1, 2008... The UN General Assembly committee dealing with nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament issues ran a wait-and-see session in October 2008, with progress perhaps stymied by the upcoming presidential transition in the United States. The session,...

U.S. Atop expanding global arms market.(THE WORLD)
December 1, 2008... In 2007 the United States again led the world in delivery of and sales agreements for conventional arms. In that year, the value of global transfer agreements rose to nearly $60 billion, up approximately $5 billion from 2006, with the majority...

U.S., Russia step up chemical weapons destruction.(THE WORLD)
December 1, 2008... Russia and the United States have announced measures to step up destruction of their chemical weapons stockpiles. The Department of Defense plans to speed up construction of the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky and the Pueblo Chemical Depot in...

North Korea hedges on nuclear sampling.(ASIA AND AUSTRALIA)
December 1, 2008... In a further setback for currently stalled efforts to denuclearize North Korea, that country's foreign ministry issued a statement Nov. 13 denying that it had agreed to allow inspectors to conduct sampling at its nuclear sites when they take...

IAEA report raises suspicions on Syrian site.(THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA)(International Atomic Energy Agency)
December 1, 2008... A Syrian facility destroyed by Israel last year could have been a nuclear reactor, a Nov. 19 International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report determined. Although the IAEA has not completed its investigation, its early findings appear to...

Israeli officials wary of U.S. shift on Iran.(THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA)
December 1, 2008... With the incoming U.S. administration of President elect Barack Obama pledging to pursue a policy of "tough diplomacy" with Iran, including opening the possibility of direct talks with Tehran, Israeli leaders appear to be warily bracing for the...

Iran forges ahead on enrichment.(THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA)
December 1, 2008... Iran is finalizing its installation of a second set of 3,000 gas centrifuges at its commercial-scale uranium-enrichment facility and is preparing to install a third set, according to a Nov. 19 report by the International Atomic Energy Agency...

Looking back: the 1978 Nuclear Nonproliferation Act.
December 1, 2008... The 1978 Nuclear Nonproliferation Act (NNPA) sought to tighten the criteria for nuclear cooperation and reshape the nuclear fuel cycle. Many of its provisions have been forgotten, but the NNPA regained notoriety this year with the approval of...

Transparency is key to avoiding space conflict.
December 1, 2008... Brian Weeden's review ("Space Weaponization: Aye or Nay?" November 2008) succinctly analyzes the space weaponization debate. A central step to ensuring that space is used for the "peaceful benefit of all states," however, is to...

Only the United States can lead the way on nuclear disarmament.(Robert Gates)(Speech)
December 1, 2008... Secretary of Defense Robert Gates delivered a speech to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on Oct. 28 ("Bush Administration Sets Russian Arms Talks," November 2008) in which he addressed the future of nuclear weapons in the 21st...