Arms Control Today articles from January 2002

Arms Control Today archives from January 2002

New strategic experiment. (Focus).(Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... After a year of preparation, President George W. Bush announced his intention to withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, and the Pentagon delivered to Congress its revised nuclear posture review. With these actions, the Bush...

Russia's strategic priorities: The Russian government has bet it will not lose as much from a world without the anti-ballistic missile treaty as it will gain from a United States willing to cooperate.(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2002... President George W. Bush announced in December that the United States planned to withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty in six months. For years, Russia had warned that loss of the treaty would undermine the nuclear...

Can China's tolerance last? While the Chinese response to the ABM treaty decision was muted, many potential difficulties remain in maintaining strategic nuclear stability between the United States and China.(anti-ballistic missile)
January 1, 2002... Many observers seemed surprised by China's muted reaction to the Bush administration's December 13 announcement that the United States would withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty. But analysts should not have been surprised....

Withdrawal is premature: It is far too early to make a deployment decision-and that is the only point at which the United States would need either to withdraw from the treaty or to modify it.
January 1, 2002... The development of a limited national missile defense to protect the U.S. homeland may eventually require withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, but now is not the time to have made that decision. First, the testing...

ABM treaty withdrawal: Neither necessary nor prudent; An ACA press conference.(anti-ballistic missile, Arms Control Association)(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2002... On December 13, as President George W. Bush announced that the United States would pull out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, the Arms Control Association held a press conference to discuss the ramifications of the U.S. withdrawal....

U.S. withdrawal from the ABM treaty. (Document).(Transcript)
January 1, 2002... On December 13, President George W. Bush announced that the United States would withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in six months. Although the United States and the Soviet Union agreed in 1972 that the treaty should be of...

Debt for nonproliferation: The next step in threat reduction; Debt-for-nonproliferation swaps are potentially powerful tools that could leverage current financial conditions to reduce the security threat from Russia's weapons infrastructure.(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2002... Debt restructuring and reduction, whereby the terms of a loan are changed or part of a loan is forgiven, are common tools used by creditors for a variety of purposes. Wealthier creditor nations, such as the United States, often restructure and...

Bush announces U.S. intent to withdraw from ABM treaty. (News and Negotiations).(President George W. Bush, anti-ballistic missile)
January 1, 2002... CLAIMING THAT THE Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty prevents the United States from protecting itself against terrorist and rogue-state missile attacks, President George W. Bush announced December 13 that the United States would withdraw from...

Nuclear posture review released, stresses flexible force planning. (News and Negotiations).(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2002... A BUSH ADMINISTRATION review of nuclear weapons policy wrapped up in early January, emphasizing flexibility in the U.S. force posture but providing few details on the implementation of planned reductions in the deployed U.S. strategic nuclear...

Threat reduction boosted by policy review, spending bills. (News and Negotiations).(reducing Russia's nuclear arms threat)(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2002... PROGRAMS TO SECURE Russia's vulnerable nuclear materials and expertise received a positive report card from a White House review unveiled December 27, and President George W. Bush signed spending bills in late December and early January that...

December missile defense tests yield one success, one failure. (News and Negotiations).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... THE PENTAGON CONDUCTED two missile defense tests in December, including a successful intercept attempt by the groundbased midcourse system and a failed test of the system's prototype booster, which ended abruptly when the rocket went off course...

Pentagon cancels sea-based Missile Defense program. (News and Negotiations).(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2002... CITING POOR PERFORMANCE, projected cost overruns, and schedule delays, on December 14 the Pentagon cancelled a sea-based missile defense system designed to protect against short- and medium-range ballistic missiles during their final stage of...

BMDO renamed 'missile defense agency'. (News and Negotiations).(Ballistic Missile Defense Organization)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... THE PENTAGON ANNOUNCED January 4 that the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO), which oversees U.S. missile defense programs, will now be known as the Missile Defense Agency (MDA). More than a name change, the move also represents the...

Nearly $500 million cut from Bush missile defense request. (News and Negotiations).(President George W. Bush)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2002... CONGRESS TRIMMED ROUGHLY $500 million from President George W. Bush's nearly $8.3 billion request for U.S. missile defense efforts in the fiscal year 2002 defense appropriations act, which it passed overwhelmingly December 20. Bush signed the...

U.S., Russia complete START I Reductions. (News and Negotiations).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2002... THE UNITED STATES and Russia completed nuclear weapons reductions required by the first Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I) on December 5, seven years after the accord entered into force. Under the treaty, the two countries have...

BWC conference suspended after controversial end. (News and Negotiations).(Biological Weapons Convention)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE on the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) was suspended on its last day, December 7, after the United States caused an uproar by proposing the termination of the existing diplomatic process to strengthen compliance...

IAEA physical protection meeting stalls. (News and Negotiations).(International Atomic Energy Agency)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... DESPITE HEIGHTENED CONCERN since September 11 over the possibility of a terrorist attack on any of the world's nuclear installations, a four-day International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meeting in Vienna to expand an international treaty on...

U.S. reinstates funds for Russian chemical demilitarization. (News and Negotiations).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2002... ON DECEMBER 28, President George W. Bush signed a major defense spending bill that reinstates U.S. funding for the design and construction of a chemical weapons destruction facility in Shchuch'ye, Russia. The bill's signing comes after...

Security council moves closer to adopting Iraqi 'smart sanctions'. (News and Negotiations).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... THE UN SECURITY Council took a step closer to implementing a "smart sanctions" regime in Iraq on November 29 by unanimously agreeing to adopt a once-contentious Goods Review List, which aims to streamline the process of selling civilian goods...

Report says U.S. studying new nuclear capabilities. (News and Negotiations).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... A REPORT TO Congress on destroying hard and deeply buried targets (HDBTs) that was made public in late December does not explicitly call for new nuclear weapons development, as some analysts had expected, but clearly indicates that the Defense...

CCW review conference adopts new measure. (News and Negotiations).(Certain Conventional Weapons)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... MEETING DECEMBER 11-21 in Geneva, states-parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) extended the accord's provisions controlling and banning weapons deemed excessively injurious or indiscriminate to cover not only...

Wassenaar members amend founding document. (News and Negotiations).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... AT THE ANNUAL year-end plenary of the Wassenaar Arrangement, held December 6-7 in Vienna, 33 of the world's leading weapons exporters amended the arrangement's founding document by adding a new section declaring that Wassenaar members would...

Open Skies Treaty enters into force. (News and Negotiations).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2002... ON JANUARY 1, the Open Skies Treaty entered into force, paving the way for its 26 state-parties to officially begin unarmed reconnaissance flights over each others' territories later this year. For any given year, the number of flights that...

Paul C. Wamke, arms control negotiator, dies at 81. (News and Negotiations).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... PAUL C. WARNKE, a leading advocate of arms control and a longtime director of the Arms Control Association, died of a pulmonary embolism October 31 at his home in Washington, D.C. He was 81. Spurgeon M. Keeny, Jr., former ACA president, said,...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
January 1, 2002... In "Russia, India Conclude Nuclear Reactor Deal" (ACT, December 2001), Rajagopalan Chidambaram was misidentified as the chairman of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission. Dr. Chidambaram retired as chairman on November 30, 2000, when Dr. Anil...

China purchases more Russian destroyers. (News Briefs).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2002... On January 3, China signed a contract, estimated to be worth more than $1 billion, to purchase two advanced warships from Russia. Delivery of the ships, expected within about four years, will double the number of Sovremennyy-class destroyers...

U.S., China continue missile proliferation talks. (News Briefs).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... In the highest-level nonproliferation talks since the Bush administration took office, the United States and China met November 29-30 in Washington to discuss Beijing's implementation of a November 2000 missile nonproliferation pledge. A...

U.S. urges 3 NATO countries to buy U.S. fighters. (News Briefs).(Statistical Data Included)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... The U.S. government expressed disappointment with the Czech Republic and Hungary for their December moves toward acquiring non-American-made fighter jets. The rare public criticism of U.S. NATO allies comes as Poland also considers purchasing...

Concerns raised about stockpile stewardship. (News Briefs).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... In a December report, the Energy Department inspector general raised "serious concerns" about the department's Stockpile Stewardship Program, which is intended to maintain confidence in the safety and reliability of the nation's nuclear arsenal...

Defense act repeals restriction on nuclear cuts. (News Briefs).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2002... President George W. Bush signed the fiscal year 2002 defense authorization bill December 28, clearing a major impediment to promised strategic nuclear reductions. The bill repeals a restriction, first included in the fiscal year 1998...

U.S. approves arms exports for India. (News Briefs).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... During a December 3-4 visit to New Delhi by Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith, the United States and India announced that Washington had recently authorized licenses to export U.S. weapons to New Delhi and that other Indian...

U.S., Russia to discuss strategic reductions. (News Briefs).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2002... In Moscow on December 10, Secretary of State Colin Powell said that the United States and Russia would seek to "formalize" an agreement to lower strategic nuclear weapons levels. At a briefing in Brussels a week later, Russian Defense...

Bush urged to redirect landmine policy review. (News Briefs).(President George W. Bush)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Concerned that the Pentagon plans to oppose U.S. accession to a treaty banning anti-personnel landmines (APLs), 124 members of Congress sent a bipartisan letter to President George W. Bush on December 19 urging him to redirect an ongoing U.S....