Arms Control Today articles from June 2003

Arms Control Today archives from June 2003

The case of Iraq's "missing" weapons. (Focus).(weapons of mass destruction)
June 1, 2003... The stated rationale for President George W. Bush's decision to invade Iraq was intelligence indicating the presence of chemical and biological weapons and renewed nuclear weapons work. Turning its back on a UN arms inspections process it never...

Preventing the misuse of pathogens: The need for global biosecurity standards.
June 1, 2003... No security measures currently exist at thousands of research centers, clinical laboratories, and culture collections overseas that possess or work with dangerous pathogens and toxins. The anthrax-tainted letters sent through the U.S. mail...

Reform and expansion of cooperative threat reduction.
June 1, 2003... The threat reduction agenda requires sustained political attention and the expenditure of political capital. Truly robust political support for it, however, is very rarely demonstrated. While America's attention has been riveted on Iraq and...

The post-Hussein era: America, Russia, terrorism, and weapons of mass destruction.
June 1, 2003... Of paramount importance to the lives and safety of the American people are the massive stockpiles of nuclear weapons and materials and the expertise for building them inherited from the Soviet Union. The nations of the world are moving...

Missile defense post-ABM Treaty: no system, no arms race. (News Analysis).
June 1, 2003... In the days leading up to the withdrawal, two sharply contrasting forecasts of the potential consequences had clashed....To date, neither side's predictions has proven prescient. Last June 13, the United States withdrew from the 1972...

U.S. missile defense programs at a glance. (Factfile).( )
June 1, 2003... President George W. Bush announced December 17, 2002, that the United States would field initial elements of a limited national missile defense system by September 2004. The United States has researched and worked on the development of...

With war in Iraq over, where are the weapons? (News and Negotiations).
June 1, 2003... ONE MONTH AFTER President George W. Bush's May 1 declaration of an end to major combat operations in Iraq, U.S. forces are continuing their search for nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons but have so far failed to make any significant...

North Korea ups the ante in nuclear standoff. (News and Negotiations).
June 1, 2003... NORTH KOREA ACCUSED the United States of violating the spirit of a 1992 agreement to keep the Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons, calling the agreement a "dead document" in a May 12 statement from the state-run Korean Central News Agency...

Congress divided on North Korea, confused by Bush policy. (News and Negotiations).
June 1, 2003... COMPLAINING THAT THE Bush administration has offered little guidance as to how to interpret the behavior of Kim Jong Il's government, members of Congress have been putting forward their own solutions to the nuclear standoff with Pyongyang. ...

North Korea nuclear crisis chronology. (News and Negotiations).(Chronology)
June 1, 2003... 2002 October 3-5, 2002: James Kelly, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, visits North Korea. The highest-ranking administration official to visit Pyongyang, Kelly reiterates U.S. concerns about North Korea's...

Senate approves NATO expansion for seven new members. (News and Negotiations).
June 1, 2003... WHAT A DIFFERENCE five years makes. The last time the U.S. Senate weighed extending NATO membership to new countries in 1998, senators debated for four days about how Russia might respond and how much adding new members might cost. But no such...

Albania has chemical arms; CWC review conference meets. (News and Negotiations).(Chemical Weapons Convention)
June 1, 2003... WHILE THE UNITED States invaded Iraq and sent its troops around that country on a so-far fruitless search for chemical and biological weapons, a European state quietly announced that it has chemical weapons. During a meeting of states belonging...

U.S. Army obtains patent for bio-weapon launcher. (News and Negotiations).
June 1, 2003... THE U.S. ARMY is reviewing a patent it recently obtained for a rifle attachment that could launch biological agents. Several arms control experts had raised concern that developing the device might violate the Biological Weapons Convention...

Slow moving diplomacy in South Asia makes headway. (News and Negotiations).
June 1, 2003... AFTER MORE THAN a year and a half of silence, peppered by occasional threats and accusations, India and Pakistan are considering a range of options in order to re-establish ties that have been severely strained since the December 2001 terrorist...

G-8 gauges progress of threat reduction partnership. (News and Negotiations).
June 1, 2003... LEADERS OF THE Group of Eight (C8) countries meeting in Evian, France, June 1-3 will review progress achieved to help Russia meet threat reduction goals as part of the G-8 Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass...

GAO faults missile defense satellite plan. (News and Negotiations).(General Accounting Office)
June 1, 2003... DESPITE A RECENT revamping and name change, a satellite program to aid missile defense missions is still not on the right path, according to a May report by the General Accounting Office (GAO). Formerly known as the Space-Based Infrared...

Draft on unexploded munitions could prove controversial. (News and Negotiations).
June 1, 2003... A JUNE 16-27 meeting of states-parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) will discuss the draft text of an "instrument" intended to reduce dangers posed by unexploded munitions left over after battles end. Although the...

Bush, Putin mending ties, sign SORT. (News and Negotiations).(Presidents George W. Bush, Vladimir Putin)
June 1, 2003... EN ROUTE TO a June 1-3 Group of Eight summit in Evian, France, President George W. Bush traveled to St. Petersburg to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The meeting marked the first encounter between the two leaders since they split...

NPT meeting confronts new nuclear threats. (News and Negotiations).(Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty)
June 1, 2003... WHILE UPHOLDING THE nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) as "the cornerstone of the global nonproliferation regime and the essential foundation for the pursuit of nuclear disarmament," states-parties meeting in Geneva April 28-May 9 confronted...

Congress approves research on new nuclear weapons. (News and Negotiations).
June 1, 2003... THE U.S. HOUSE and Senate each voted in late May to allow research on low-yield nuclear warheads and authorized the continuation of an Energy Department program exploring development of a robust nuclear earth penetrator (RNEP) using existing...

U.S. levels accusations against Iranian weapons programs. (News and Negotiations).
June 1, 2003... THE UNITED STATES has been levying charges against Iran similar to those it made against Iraq prior to the March invasion of that country, including harboring the al Qaeda terrorist network and pursuing weapons of mass destruction programs. ...

New NNSA head appointed amid controversy. (News and Negotiations).(National Nuclear Security Administration )
June 1, 2003... AMBASSADOR LINTON BROOKS was installed May 16 as administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and undersecretary of energy for nuclear security after his confirmation by the Senate May 1. Brooks, who has been acting...

CTBT milestone: 101 ratifiers. (News Briefs).(Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty)
June 1, 2003... Mauritania became the 100th ratifier of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) April 30, almost seven years after the landmark arms control agreement was opened for signature. Kuwait quickly followed as the 101st ratifier May 6. ...

U.S. pushing for missile defense in Taiwan. (News Briefs).
June 1, 2003... Pointing to China's expanding force of ballistic missiles across the Taiwan Strait, the United States is trying to convince Taiwan to invest more in missile defenses, but Taipei has tightened its belt on military purchases. At a joint...

NATO-Russia TMD cooperation in new phase. (News Briefs).(theater missile defenses)
June 1, 2003... The 19-member NATO alliance and Russia will begin trading technical information on their various systems to counter short- and medium-range ballistic missiles to see if the defenses could possibly work together or operate side by side in...

U.S. sanctions firms in China, Iran, and Moldova. (News Briefs).
June 1, 2003... On May 9, the United States imposed sanctions on a Chinese company, an Iranian firm, and Moldovan entities for what the State Department described as missile-proliferation activities. The Chinese and Iranian companies will be prohibited...

Russia destroys 1 percent of CW stockpile. (News Briefs).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Russia finished destroying 1 percent of its most dangerous chemical weapons April 26, according to Russia's foreign ministry and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. The event marked the first milestone of the country's...