Arms Control Today articles from July 2008

Arms Control Today archives from July 2008

Editor's note.(Editorial)
July 1, 2008... When a new U.S. president takes office in January 2009, he will be confronted with a host of arms control and nonproliferation challenges. At the top of his list should be finding a way to preserve the strategic reassurance provided by START I,...

Rethink European missile defense.(FOCUS)
July 1, 2008... Within weeks of entering office, the next U.S. president will be confronted with dozens of pivotal choices. One of the most important will be whether to install untested missile defenses in eastern Europe to deal with an Iranian missile threat...

Notable quotable.(In BRIEF)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... "I told them that I thought that in the future that the importance of the nuclear deterrent would grow, rather than diminish, partly because of the risks of proliferation... To the extent that [the Russians] rely more and more on their nuclear...

Notable quotable.(In BRIEF)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... "It sounds paradoxical, but there was more mutual trust and respect during the Cold War. Perhaps this was due to there being less lecturing on how one should behave." --Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, June 20, during remarks in...

Rumsfeld reprise? The missile report that foretold the Iraq intelligence controversy.(Five Years Ago in ACT)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... The end result of both the Rumsfeld Commission report and subsequent intelligence estimates was to distract their consumers from the most serious security threats to the nation, leading to misallocation of resources, America's estrangement from...

Revisiting the 1998 Rumsfeld Commission on ballistic missile threats *.(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... 2010 Year that the 1995 National Intelligence Estimate predicted would be the soonest that any country other than a major declared nuclear-weapons power would be able to acquire an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with a range of...

Indonesia will soon receive a shipment of six Russian-made Mi-35 Hind attack helicopters.(International Arming and Disarming)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... Indonesia will soon receive a shipment of six Russian-made Mi-35 Hind attack helicopters. The helicopters are part of a $1 billion loan package offered by Russia reportedly for the purchase of helicopters, tanks, submarines, and Sukhoi fighter...

Turkmenistan has signed a contract with Russia for six Smerch multiple rocket launchers as part of a larger fuel-for-weapons agreement.(International Arming and Disarming)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... According to Russia news media, Turkmenistan has signed a contract with Russia for six Smerch multiple rocket launchers as part of a larger fuel-for-weapons agreement. Known alternatively as the 9K58 or BM-30, the Smerch platform can fire 12...

Chile.(International Arming and Disarming)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... With the purchase of two MineWolf mine clearing machines, Chile will begin the large-scale clearing of minefields along its Argentine, Peruvian, and Bolivian borders. More than one million landlines were laid during the regime of military...

Liberia.(International Arming and Disarming)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... The UN Security Council extended an arms embargo against Liberia until December 20, 2008. The country has been subject to a comprehensive arms embargo since 2003. Outlined in Security Council Resolution 1521, the embargo does not apply to...

Turkey-U.S. 123 agreement.(Treaty Update)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... On June 2, the United States and Turkey concluded a nuclear cooperation agreement that would enable the two countries to exchange reactor technology, nuclear material, and other equipment for civilian use. Section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act...

Chemical Weapons Convention.(Treaty Update)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... The Republic of Guinea-Bissau joined the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) on May 20, making it the 184th state-party to ratify the agreement. Currently, only 11 states are outside the CWC. The Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Israel, and...

On the Calendar.(What's Ahead)(Brief article)(Calendar)
July 1, 2008... July 7-9 G8 Summit, Toyako, Japan. July 7-25 Third session of the group of governmental experts (cluster munitions) of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, Geneva. July...

New presidents, new agreements? Advancing U.S.-Russian strategic arms control.
July 1, 2008... With the Sochi Declaration in April 2008, the poker players in Washington and Moscow effectively laid down their strategic arms control cards for the last time in the Bush and Putin administrations. They reiterated their intention to carry out...

Israel's Airstrike on Syria's reactor: implications for the nonproliferation regime.
July 1, 2008... On September 6, 2007, in a surprise dawn attack, seven Israeli warplanes destroyed an industrial facility near al-Kibar, Syria, later identified by the CIA as a nearly completed nuclear reactor secretly under construction since 2001. (1)...

Before the day after: using pre-detonation nuclear forensics to improve fissile material security.
July 1, 2008... The next U.S. administration will face many daunting challenges, but none of these are likely to be as pressing as combating the threat posed by nuclear terrorism. Twelve years ago, experts identified "nuclear leakage"--the sale, theft, and...

111 countries approve cluster munitions treaty.(THE WORLD)
July 1, 2008... On May 30 in Dublin, 111 countries agreed to the text of a new treaty that calls for the clearance and destruction of virtually all existing cluster munitions but will permit the use of more advanced cluster-like arms. However, backers of the...

Interdiction initiative successes assessed.
July 1, 2008... Commandos rappelling down ropes from a helicopter to a ship deck or navy forces boarding a vessel at sea are images often associated with a Bush administration initiative to intercept unconventional weapons or related cargo in transit. Actual...

Recently claimed proliferation security initiative successes.(THE WORLD)
July 1, 2008... As part of a May 29 briefing for foreign government officials attending a Proliferation Security Initiative conference in Washington, the U.S. government provided five examples of purported PSI interdictions. The Department of State later...

Swiss destroy key A.Q. Khan evidence.(THE WORLD)
July 1, 2008... Swiss President Pascal Couchepin announced May 23 that his government destroyed files associated with a case against Swiss nationals suspected of involvement in the illicit nuclear trafficking network run by Pakistani nuclear official Abdul...

High-level panel calls for stronger IAEA.(THE WORLD)(International Atomic Energy Agency )
July 1, 2008... In a May report to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors, a panel of prominent international leaders recommends that the agency assume additional responsibilities and perhaps double its budget by 2020 in order to...

Iran presented with revamped incentives.(THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA)
July 1, 2008... On June 14, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany formally presented Iran with a revised proposal for comprehensive negotiations aimed at resolving concerns over Tehran's nuclear ambitions. The incentives package...

EU levies sanctions on Iran.(THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA)
July 1, 2008... The European Union agreed June 23 to impose a new set of sanctions against Iranian individuals and organizations involved in Iran's nuclear and missile programs. The new sanctions go beyond the measures contained in UN Security Council...

Candidates differ on Iran, agree on sanctions.(THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA)
July 1, 2008... Over the past month, the issue of how the United States will address Iran's nuclear program has become one of the centerpieces of the foreign policy debate between the two presumptive major-party presidential candidates. The candidates differ...

States divest from businesses tied to Iran.(THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA)
July 1, 2008... Eleven U.S. states have adopted legislation to divest public pension funds from companies with financial ties to Iran's petroleum, defense, and nuclear sectors in an attempt to persuade Iran to give up its uranium-enrichment program and alleged...

Air Force leaders fired over nuke handling.(THE UNITED STATES AND THE AMERICAS)
July 1, 2008... Secretary of Defense Robert Gates fired Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley and Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne on June 5 after a report by Navy Adm. Kirkland Donald highlighted significant oversights in the Air Force's...

Missile defense role questioned.(News ANALYSIS)
July 1, 2008... Is the deployed U.S. anti-missile system capable enough to have a president rely on it to protect American lives if a hostile regime threatened to use long-range ballistic missiles to attack the United States? Some current administration...

Shorter-range missile defenses show progress.(THE UNITED STATES AND THE AMERICAS)
July 1, 2008... Despite continuing concerns about the capability and testing of Pentagon efforts to develop and deploy anti-missile systems to protect against long-range ballistic missiles, less controversial programs to counter shorter-range missiles are...

U.S. issues broad threat to WMD accomplices.(THE UNITED STATES AND THE AMERICAS)(weapons of mass destruction)
July 1, 2008... Serious consequences await those that aid terrorists in acquiring or using unconventional weapons under a new policy that national security adviser Stephen Hadley has broadcast. The Bush administration, however, is not clarifying whether the...

Senate committee completes Iraq intel probe.(THE UNITED STATES AND THE AMERICAS)
July 1, 2008... The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence June 5 completed its long-delayed investigation into U.S. intelligence on Iraq prior to the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of that country. The final portions of the investigation entailed a comparison of...

Pentagon calls for more DTRA support.(THE UNITED STATES AND THE AMERICAS)(Defense Threat Reduction Agency )
July 1, 2008... A recently declassified report from a Department of Defense review panel calls on the government to provide more political and financial support to a Pentagon agency that is tasked with defending the United States from weapons of mass...

Corrections.(THE UNITED STATES AND THE AMERICAS)(Correction notice)
July 1, 2008... * On page 34 of Arms Control Today's June 2008 issue, the news article "Bush Sends Russia Nuclear Energy Pact to Hill" identified the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee as Rep. Harold Berman, it should read "Rep. Howard Berman."...

Bush's nuclear reprocessing plan under fire.(THE UNITED STATES AND THE AMERICAS)(George W. Bush)
July 1, 2008... The Bush administration's Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) program, already under siege, has been further imperiled after recent action by several congressional panels and an April report from the congressional watchdog agency. ...

North Korea delivers nuclear declaration.(ASIA AND AUSTRALIA)
July 1, 2008... Pyongyang June 26 delivered its long-awaited declaration on its nuclear programs to China, the chair of the six-party talks aimed at denuclearizing North Korea. The six countries, which also include Japan, Russia, South Korea, and the United...

IAEA South Korean concerns resolved.(International Atomic Energy Agency )
July 1, 2008... The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said June 3 that its concerns about the peaceful nature of South Korea's nuclear program had been resolved after concluding an investigation that began four years ago. The announcement came as South...

U.S. presses Poland on anti-missile site.
July 1, 2008... Frustrated by Polish negotiating demands on a plan to install U.S. anti-missile interceptors in Poland, the United States recently said it had other basing options. Despite vigorous Russian opposition to the potential interceptor deployment in...

Russian plutonium-producing reactors closed.
July 1, 2008... On June 5, Rosatom closed the sole remaining reactor at the Siberian Chemical Combine, located in Seversk, ending the city's 43 years of weapons-grade plutonium production and bringing Russia one step closer to ending production of...

Looking back: the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty then and now.
July 1, 2008... Less than a year after dropping nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, the United States adopted a statute prohibiting the transfer of its nuclear weapons to any other country. It was not until 23 years later, however, that countries...