Arms Control Today articles from March 2004

Arms Control Today archives from March 2004

Broaden the nonproliferation campaign.(Focus)
March 1, 2004... Following last month's disclosures of illicit Pakistani nuclear assistance to Libya and Iran, President George W. Bush outlined new measures to restrict the trade of key equipment that can be used to make bomb material. However, Bush's...

Eliminating the obstacles to Nunn-Lugar.
March 1, 2004... The war on terrorism proceeds in a world awash with nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and materials. Most of these are stored in the United States and Russia; but they also exist in India, Pakistan, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria,...

Recharging the Chemical Weapons Convention.
March 1, 2004... On January 6, Libya became the 159th nation to join the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), (1) continuing a trend wherein nearly a dozen countries have surrendered their chemical weapons programs in less than a decade. Libyan President Moammar...

Curbing nuclear proliferation in the Middle East.
March 1, 2004... In terms of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) threats in the Middle East, 2003 ended up being a pretty good year. It did not start out that way. In fact, the situation was looking pretty ominous at the beginning of last year. Intelligence...

On the money trail: President Bush's fiscal year 2005 budget request.(Special Section)
March 1, 2004... To understand an administration's arms control and nonproliferation policies, there are few more concrete clues than the annual budget request it submits to Congress. Although policy statements can be endlessly rewritten and altered, budget...

Father of Pakistani bomb sold nuclear secrets.(The Khan Network)
March 1, 2004... IN A DRAMATIC television appearance Feb. 4, Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of the Pakistani bomb, acknowledged that during the past two decades he had secretly provided North Korea, Libya, and Iran with crucial technological and intellectual...

A sprawling nuclear black market.(The Khan Network)
March 1, 2004... The father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, has admitted to running a proliferation ring that provided nuclear expertise and technologies to Iran, Libya, and North Korea. Khan's network is believed to have spanned a number...

Bush outlines proposals to stem proliferation.(The Khan Network)
March 1, 2004... PAINTING A STARK picture of a world facing growing dangers from the spread of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), President George W. Bush offered seven proposals to tamp down rising proliferation threats in a Feb. 11 speech at the National...

IAEA says Iran failed to disclose key nuclear activities.(The Khan Network)
March 1, 2004... DESPITE ITS OCTOBER 2003 promise to declare all aspects of its nuclear program to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a Feb. 24 IAEA report reveals that Iran has failed to disclose several nuclear activities. The IAEA Board of...

U.S. says Libya implementing WMD pledge.(The Khan Network)
March 1, 2004... U.S. OFFICIALS ARE pleased with Libya's progress in fulfilling its December pledge to eliminate its nuclear and chemical weapons programs, as well as its long-range missiles, and have indicated that the United States will soon take steps to...

Kay revives fracas over U.S. intelligence on Iraq.(News and Negotiations)
March 1, 2004... THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION IS facing a formidable diplomatic and political challenge after a key official said that he expected any weapons hunt in Iraq will prove largely futile. The CIA announced Jan. 23 that David Kay was stepping down as...

Contrasting views on Iraq's WMD.(News and Negotiations)(Calendar)
March 1, 2004... This material is adapted from the public version of the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq's WMD Capabilities; CIA Director George Tenet's Feb. 5 speech at Georgetown University; March 2003 and December 2003 reports from the UN...

Cooperative threat reduction, missile defense, and the nuclear future.(News and Negotiations)
March 1, 2004... "Michael Krepon's book deals with what is arguably the most important security problem of our age--nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorists or failed nations. His book, carefully researched and clearly written, makes a compelling case...

Six nations square off over North Korea: Seoul advances proposal.(News and Negotiations)
March 1, 2004... THE SECOND ROUND of six-party talks designed to resolve the nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula began Feb. 25 in Beijing with some early signs that they might yield progress. The nations involved are the United States, North Korea, China,...

U.S. delegation visits North Korea: questions remain over Pyongyang's weapons claims.(News and Negotiations)
March 1, 2004... THE JANUARY VISIT of an unofficial U.S. delegation of arms control and North Korea experts, including senior Senate staff aides, to North Korea's nuclear facilities at Yongbyon resolved some uncertainties concerning the status of Pyongyang's...

Lugar says some administration officials undermining Bush's efforts on additional protocol.(News and Negotiations)
March 1, 2004... ALTHOUGH PRESIDENT GEORGE W. Bush reiterated his support for a bilateral U.S. agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last month, a key Senate leader has complained that some within the administration are not fully on...

China seeks to join nuclear, missile control groups.(News and Negotiations)
March 1, 2004... BUILDING ON RECENT efforts to demonstrate its nonproliferation credentials, China is seeking to join two voluntary multilateral export control regimes that seek to limit the spread of nuclear and missile-related technologies. China formally...

Putin boasts about Russian military capabilities tests show both strengths and weaknesses.(News and Negotiations)
March 1, 2004... IN FEBRUARY, RUSSIA concluded what it touted as its most extensive military exercises in two decades, revealing both the current weaknesses and the remaining strengths of Russia's missile arsenal. Russian President Vladimir Putin personally...

Russia, NATO at loggerheads over military bases.(News and Negotiations)
March 1, 2004... REVIVING MEMORIES OF their bitter Cold War rivalry, NATO and Russia are engaging in increasingly sharp exchanges over each other's military deployments and basing plans. Speaking Feb. 7 at a two-day security conference in Munich, Germany,...

India buys Russian aircraft carrier.(News and Negotiations)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... INDIA FINALLY SEALED a deal Jan. 20 for a Russian aircraft carrier after more than a decade of haggling. The estimated $1.5 billion contract signed by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov and Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes calls on...

Taiwan, China, and U.S. in arms referendum imbroglio.(News and Negotiations)
March 1, 2004... AFTER PROVOKING A stern rebuke from the United States, Taiwan in mid-January modified a proposed March 20 referendum regarding China's deployment of ballistic missiles aimed at the island. The move appeared to mollify Washington, but Beijing...

Top Pentagon official says missile defense performance questionable without more tests.(News and Negotiations)
March 1, 2004... IN AN ANNUAL report to Congress, the Pentagon's top official in charge of ensuring that U.S. weapons perform properly said he could not offer a final verdict on a proposed layered U.S. ballistic missile defense system because it has been only...

Proliferation Security Initiative advances: but Russia and China keep their distance.(News and Negotiations)
March 1, 2004... A U.S.-LED coalition to interdict shipments of deadly arms around the globe scored a couple of firsts in February. The 11 original participants added three more states to their roster, and the United States concluded an agreement giving it the...

U.S. will not join landmine treaty; Position on fissile material cutoff pact uncertain.(News and Negotiations)
March 1, 2004... THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION has no intention of joining an anti-landmine treaty and is reviewing past U.S. support for negotiating an agreement to end the production of key nuclear weapons materials, Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control...

U.S. announces new landmines policy.(News and Negotiations)
March 1, 2004... ON FEB. 27, the Bush administration announced that it would not join an international treaty banning anti-personnel landmines (APLs), but would limit the types of landmines its military forces may use in the future. Under the new policy,...

Questions over Iraq Intel continue to plague Blair.(News and Negotiations)
March 1, 2004... BRITISH PRIME MINISTER Tony Blair faces growing criticism over his decision to go to war in Iraq, despite being cleared by Lord Brian Hutton Jan. 28 of any wrongdoing in the events leading to the suicide of British weapons inspector David Kelly...

Kazakhstan signs IAEA additional protocol.(News Briefs)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Kazakhstan signed an additional protocol to its International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards agreement Feb. 6, giving the IAEA a green light to conduct more intrusive monitoring of the former Soviet republic's nuclear activities. ...

Contract for mini-kill vehicles awarded.(News Briefs)
March 1, 2004... The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is moving ahead on a project that it hopes will address what is perceived as one of the biggest challenges to U.S. missile defense programs: the possibility that an enemy could simply overwhelm a...

U.S.-Russian arms reduction body yet to meet.(News Briefs)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The United States and Russia have yet to hold a meeting of the Bilateral Implementation Commission to help implement the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT), which entered into force June 1, 2003. Under the terms of the accord, the...

U.S. dual-use exports largely go unchecked.(News Briefs)
March 1, 2004... The U.S. government process for checking whether American commercial exports are being misused for weapons purposes needs improvement, the General Accounting Office (GAO) concluded in a January report. The GAO found that the Department of...

Arms control in print.
March 1, 2004... I. OF SPECIAL INTEREST Findlay, Trevor. Verification Yearbook 2003, VERTIC, 2003, 263 pp. Nolan, Janne; Brian Finlay; and Bernard Finel. Ultimate Security: Combating Weapons of Mass Destruction, The Century Foundation, Georgetown...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
March 1, 2004... In the profile of President George W. Bush by Wade Boese (January/February 2004), it was incorrectly reported that the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty "expires the same day that it enters into force." The treaty entered into force June 1,...