Arms Control Today articles from June 2009

Arms Control Today archives from June 2009

Editor's note.(Editorial)
June 1, 2009... In some areas of nuclear weapons policy, the Obama administration has made significant changes and is beginning to see results. In other areas, the administration has sketched out policies but has not yet implemented them. In still other areas,...

Testing the world's patience.(FOCUS)
June 1, 2009... North Korea's second--and the world's 2,052nd--nuclear weapons test explosion represents yet another low in the long-running multilateral diplomatic effort to freeze and verifiably dismantle Pyongyang's nuclear capabilities. Pyongyang's test...

Notable quotable.(In BRIEF)(Quotation)(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... "People understand intuitively that nuclear weapons will never make us more secure. They know that real security lies in responding to poverty, climate change, armed conflict and instability. They want Governments to invest in plans...

The Proliferation Security Initiative: can interdiction stop proliferation?(Five Years Ago in ACT)(Quotation)(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... "No interdiction effort can be 100 percent effective. Intelligence will not always be accurate, ships may only dock in ports of states that do not subscribe to the initiative, and the indigenous capability to produce WMD [weapons of mass...

By the numbers.
June 1, 2009... Estimating North Korea's Plutonium (in kilograms) About 30 Plutonium North Korea declared in 2008 Up to 50 Unclassified U.S. estimate of North Korea's plutonium stocks About 8 Plutonium available in Yongbyon reactor's...

Iran's nuclear and missile potential.(Reports of Note)(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... The East West Institute, May 2009. A panel of U.S. and Russian technical experts concluded that Iran is years away from developing the technology to successfully launch a nuclear-tipped missile that could threaten the United States or...

Unblocking the Road to Zero: India and China.(Reports of Note)(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... In the March 2009 installment of the Henry L. Stimson Center's "Unblocking the Road to Zero" series, Rajesh Basrur and retired Maj. Gen. Pan Zhenqiang discuss the perspectives of India and China, respectively, on efforts to abolish nuclear...

Technology, policy, law, and ethics regarding U.S. acquisition and use of cyberattack capabilities.(Reports of Note)(Brief article)(Book review)
June 1, 2009... Co-edited by William A. Owens, former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, this wide-ranging National Academy of Sciences report addresses military, technology, policy, legal, and ethical issues surrounding destructive "cyberattack"...

CCW and CCM.(Treaty Update)(Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, Convention on Cluster Munitions)(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... In April, Mali and Costa Rica became the 56th and 57th states to consent to be bound by Protocol V of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). In May, Canada became the 58th state to consent to the protocol, which addresses...

Treaty of Pelindaba.(Treaty Update)(nuclear-weapon-free zone in Africa)(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... With Malawi's April 18 ratification, the Treaty of Pelindaba needs only one more ratification to enter into force. The treaty creates a nuclear-weapon-free zone in Africa and prohibits members from acquiring or stationing nuclear weapons within...

On the calendar.(Brief article)(Calendar)
June 1, 2009... June 15-19 International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors meeting, Vienna July 6-8 Presidents Obama and Medvedev meeting, Moscow July 8-10 Group of Eight summit in Aquila, Italy Aug....

Lots of hedging, little leading: an analysis of the Congressional Strategic Posture Commission report.
June 1, 2009... Among the flood of security policy reports issued in recent months, one of the most anticipated has been the one from the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States. (1) The panel, which Congress established last...

Enhanced prospects for 2010: an analysis of the third PrepCom and the outlook for the 2010 NPT Review Conference.
June 1, 2009... The just-concluded third Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) meeting for the 2010 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference has been heralded as a much-needed success story, with much of the credit given to the Obama administration's...

Toward a legally binding arms trade treaty: an interview with British minister of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs Bill Rammell.(Interview)
June 1, 2009... Bill Rammell serves as minister of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs in the United Kingdom. His responsibilities encompass the Middle East, including Iraq and Iran; counterterrorism; counterproliferation; the Far East and Southeast...

N. Korean nuclear test prompts global rebuke.(ASIA AND AUSTRALIA)
June 1, 2009... North Korea conducted its second nuclear test May 25, prompting international condemnation for violating UN demands and raising tensions in the region. The test comes a month after North Korea declared that it would no longer participate in...

Pakistani nuclear stocks safe, officials say.(ASIA AND AUSTRALIA)
June 1, 2009... Pakistani and U.S. officials have sought to allay increasing concerns in recent months that instability in Pakistan might threaten the security of Islamabad's nuclear weapons. Pakistani security forces have been engaged in open conflict with...

Progress seen in Iranian missile test.(THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA)
June 1, 2009... Iran carried out its first successful flight test of a two-stage solid-fuel ballistic missile May 20, demonstrating increasing sophistication with its medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBMs), U.S. officials and technical experts said. ...

Congress weighs Iran Sanctions, diplomacy.(THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA)
June 1, 2009... Congressional committee leaders are prepared to delay consideration of new legislation intended to stiffen existing sanctions aimed at Iran's energy sector in order to allow time for the Obama administration's diplomatic efforts to resolve the...

U.S., UAE sign new nuclear cooperation pact.(THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA)
June 1, 2009... The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United States signed a new version of their nuclear cooperation agreement May 21, signaling President Barack Obama's support for a pact that boosters have portrayed as a model for the development of...

Nonproliferation budget sees some hikes.(THE UNITED STATES AND THE AMERICAS)
June 1, 2009... The Obama administration is asking Congress for significant funding increases in programs designed to secure nuclear material in Russia and detect radioactive material passing through the world's busiest ports, according to budget documents...

Obama shifts U.S. stance on CTBTO funding.(THE UNITED STATES AND THE AMERICAS)(Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization)
June 1, 2009... The Obama administration's fiscal year 2010 budget request for the Department of State includes $26 million for the U.S. contribution to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), the first request to meet or exceed the CTBTO's...

Obama budget seeks rise in tritium capacity.(THE UNITED STATES AND THE AMERICAS)
June 1, 2009... The Obama administration's fiscal year 2010 budget request includes funds to increase production capacity for tritium, a radioactive gas used to boost the explosive power of U.S. nuclear weapons, even as the U.S. government is taking steps to...

Missile defense programs in fiscal years 2009 and 2010 budgets.(Statistical table)(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... The fiscal year 2010 Department of Defense budget request, released in May, provides additional detail on the Obama administration's refocusing of U.S. missile defense efforts. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates outlined the reorientation at an...

U.S., Russia continue talks on START.(EUROPE AND THE FORMER SOVIET UNION)
June 1, 2009... U.S. and Russian delegations met in Moscow May 18-20 for the first full-fledged negotiations on a successor to START and said the talks went well. A spokesman for the U.S. Department of State called the talks in Moscow "positive" but...

CD breaks deadlock on work plan.(THE WORLD)(Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament)
June 1, 2009... The Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament (CD) agreed on a program of work May 29, ending 12 years of deadlock. The 65-member conference, which operates by consensus, agreed to negotiate a verifiable treaty banning the production of fissile...

Facing the Reality of the Bomb.(Better Safe than Sorry: The Ironies of Living with the Bomb)(Book review)
June 1, 2009... Better Safe than Sorry: the Ironies of Living with the Bomb By Michael Krepon Stanford University Press, 2009, 270 pp. President Barack Obama's enlightened statement April 5 in Prague on the future of nuclear weapons raised the...

The tradition of non-use of nuclear weapons.(Books OF NOTE)(Brief article)
June 1, 2009... Professor T. V. Paul of McGill University examines the tradition of nonuse of nuclear weapons that has been the informal global norm since the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Paul ponders why nuclear-weapon states have refrained from using...

International law and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.(Books OF NOTE)(Brief article)(Book review)
June 1, 2009... Daniel H. Joyner, an associate professor at the University of Alabama School of Law, examines the legal basis for and dynamics behind global arms control and nonproliferation efforts from international treaty regimes to the Bush doctrine of...

The future of biological disarmament: strengthening the treaty ban on weapons.(Books OF NOTE)(Brief article)(Book review)
June 1, 2009... Nicholas A. Sims provides an in-depth examination of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), and describes the events of the Sixth Review Conference of the BWC, which took place Nov. 20-Dec. 8, 2006. Sims says that the conference did not...

In memoriam: Herbert York (1921-2009).(In memoriam)
June 1, 2009... Herbert York, who began his career as a Manhattan Project nuclear physicist and later became a champion of arms control, died May 19. He was 87. Recruited for the Manhattan Project before he was 21, York's career in weapons research and...