Arms Control Today articles from March 2009

Arms Control Today archives from March 2009

Editor's note.
March 1, 2009... Many arms control issues do not lend themselves to a quick resolution. In our cover story this month, Jonathan Tucker proposes a resolution to one of the longest and most contentious international policy debates: whether to destroy the last...

Learning from the A.Q Khan affair.(FOCUS)(Abdul Qadeer Khan)
March 1, 2009... The world's most notorious nuclear proliferator is once again a free man. Worried about what he might reveal in court about Pakistan's complicity and eager to demonstrate its independence from Washington, the fragile government of Prime...

Notable quotable.(In BRIEF)(Quotation)
March 1, 2009... "One of my goals is to prevent nuclear proliferation generally. I think that it's important for the United States, in concert with Russia, to lead the way on this... I've mentioned this in conversations with the Russian President, Mr....

Maintaining the proliferation fight in the former Soviet Union.(Ten Years Ago in ACT)(Quotation)
March 1, 2009... Arogue state with ICBMs might well be deterred by the certainty of devastating U.S. retaliation. But a rogue state with nuclear weapons would have many other delivery options, some of which might make it much harder to determine the national...

By the numbers.(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... U.S. Nuclear Security Spending, Oct. 1, 2007 to Sept. 30, 2008 * $0.7 Billion Nuclear incident management: preparing for, detecting, and responding to use of nuclear or radiological weapons against the United States. $5.2 Billion...

Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons.(Treaty Update)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... On Jan. 21, the United States deposited its instruments of ratification for an amendment to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) and for Protocols III, IV, and V. The protocols address incendiary weapons, blinding lasers, and...

Chemical Weapons Convention.(Treaty Update)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) came into force Dec. 20 for Lebanon and Feb. 12 for Iraq, bringing the number of states-parties to 186. Iraq's initial declaration, which is due within 30 days after the date of accession, will have to...

India signs new IAEA safeguards.(Treaty Update)(International Atomic Energy Agency)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... India signed an agreement Feb. 2 with the International Atomic Energy Agency allowing the agency to monitor all of that country's declared civilian nuclear activities. The agency currently only maintains safeguards on six Indian nuclear...

Conventional arming and disarming.(arming and disarming of mines in Afghanistan )(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... According to a State Department fact sheet, since January 2006 the United States has funded projects in Afghanistan that have destroyed or secured more than 9,000 metric tons of unexploded, abandoned, or otherwise at-risk munitions and small...

On the calendar.(What's Ahead)(Calendar)
March 1, 2009... On the Calendar Mar. 2-6 International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors meeting, Vienna. Mar. 2-6 UN open-ended working group on an Arms Trade Treaty, first session. New York. ...

The smallpox destruction debate: could a grand bargain settle the issue?
March 1, 2009... One of the longest and most contentious international policy debates has swirled around the question of whether to destroy the last known stocks of the smallpox (variola) virus, which are preserved at two World Health Organization...

Complete cutoff: designing a comprehensive fissile material treaty.
March 1, 2009... President Barack Obama has pledged to "lead a global effort to negotiate a verifiable treaty ending the production of fissile materials for weapons purposes" (1) Fissile materials are the chain-reacting fissionable materials that are the...

Five plus three: how to have a meaningful and helpful fissile material cutoff treaty.
March 1, 2009... The Obama administration has stated its intention to conclude a treaty cutting off production of fissile material, highly enriched uranium (HEU) and plutonium, for nuclear weapons. So did the administrations of George W. Bush and Bill Clinton....

Obama sets new course on arms control.(THE UNITED STATES AND THE AMERICAS)(Barack Obama)
March 1, 2009... In recent public statements and congressional hearings, Obama administration officials have indicated that they will reverse Bush-era policies on a number of major arms control issues. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other Obama...

Bush imposes final proliferation sanctions.(THE UNITED STATES AND THE AMERICAS)(George Bush)
March 1, 2009... The United States imposed new sanctions Jan. 15 on seven companies from China, Iran, and North Korea, barring them from trading with U.S. companies or government agencies for two years. The sanctions, along with those related to the Abdul...

Nuclear management change recommended.(THE UNITED STATES AND THE AMERICAS)
March 1, 2009... A Department of Defense task force formed after several recent incidents of nuclear weapons mismanagement found a lack of enthusiasm and understanding of the importance of nuclear deterrence throughout the department and recommended a series of...

U.S. arms notifications spike in 2008.(THE UNITED STATES AND THE AMERICAS)
March 1, 2009... Notifications made to Congress in 2008 of requested U.S. arms sales reached their highest monetary level in more than a decade. Countries in the Middle East accounted for more than half of the $75 billion in government-to-government requests,...

NNSA completes B61 refurbishment.(THE UNITED STATES AND THE AMERICAS)(National Nuclear Security Administration refurbish the B61-7 and B61-11 strategic nuclear bombs)
March 1, 2009... The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announced that it had completed on Jan. 9 its eight-year effort to refurbish the B61-7 and B61-11 strategic nuclear bombs. The B61-7 and B61-11 are gravity bombs, deliverable by B-52H or...

Iran still rebuffs IAEA requests.(THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA)(International Atomic Energy Agency )
March 1, 2009... Iran continues to refuse to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) regarding key aspects of its current and previous nuclear activities, according to a Feb. 19 report by the agency. Tehran has also produced a significant...

Iran makes first successful space launch.(THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA)
March 1, 2009... Iran announced Feb. 3 thaat it carried out its first successful launch of a satellite into orbit. The launch raised international concerns regarding the progress Iran has made in its ballistic missile program, in particular the possibly that...

U.S., UAE sign nuclear cooperation pact.(THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA)
March 1, 2009... In one of her final acts in office, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Jan. 15 signed a nuclear cooperation agreement between the United States and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that includes a landmark nonproliferation provision. The Obama...

IAEA: Syrian reactor explanation suspect.(THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA)(International Atomic Energy Agency)
March 1, 2009... The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) issued a report Feb. 19 indicating that Syria has failed to provide adequate information regarding a destroyed facility the West suspects was once a clandestine nuclear reactor. The agency stated...

Afghan small arms records incomplete.(THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA)(Department of Defense's procured weapons for the Afghan National Security Forces )
March 1, 2009... Several recent U.S. government reports identified significant difficulties in tracking U.S. small arms and light weapons meant for Afghan national forces and an improvement in monitoring such weapons meant for Iraq. According to a January...

Bosworth named special representative for NK.(ASIA AND AUSTRALIA)(Stephen Bosworth as special representative for North Korea policy)
March 1, 2009... Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton traveled to Asia during her first overseas trip facing concerns about continued progress in negotiations on North Korea's denuclearization and questions regarding the status of North Korea's leadership....

North Korea seen preparing for missile launch.(ASIA AND AUSTRALIA)
March 1, 2009... A mid heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula, Pyongyang appears to be making preparations to test its long-range ballistic missile, the Taepo Dong-2. North Korea reportedly began moving components of the missile, which may be capable of...

Chinese report discusses nuclear planning.(ASIA AND AUSTRALIA)
March 1, 2009... On Jan. 20, China issued its biennial defense white paper, which explained for the first time how its nuclear force would respond to different situations in line with its policy of "no first use of nuclear weapons." The paper, entitled "China's...

Correction.(Correction notice)
March 1, 2009... * On page 33 of Arms Control Today's January/February 2009 issue, the news article "WMD Commission Issues Findings," contains a paragraph that begins with "BSL-3 and BSL-4 labs contain pathogens..." That entire paragraph should be replaced...

Abdul Qadeer Khan freed from house arrest.(THE WORLD)
March 1, 2009... In February, Pakistan lifted most restrictions on former Pakistani nuclear official Abdul Qadeer Khan, who had organized an extensive black market network contributing nuclear weapons-related technology to Iran, Libya, North Korea, and perhaps...

Ukraine set to join enrichment facility.(EUROPE AND THE FORMER SOVIET UNION)(Ukraine to join International Uranium Enrichment Center )(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Efforts to impose multilateral control over the nuclear fuel cycle gained strength in February as Ukraine was set to become the fourth country to join a multinational uranium-enrichment facility located in Angarsk in Russia. Russia and the...

Disarmament efforts get new impetus.(EUROPE AND THE FORMER SOVIET UNION)
March 1, 2009... In a major disarmament step, Russia and the United States appear poised to negotiate a significant new agreement on strategic arms reduction as the clock ticks toward the December 2009 expiration of the 1991 START. At the same time, the British...

Looking back: the threshold Test Ban Treaty.(Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty)
March 1, 2009... As the likelihood increases that the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) will get a new look in the Senate and perhaps advance closer to entry into force in the Obama administration, (1) it is useful to look back at its antecedents. There are...

Arms sales: a challenge for Obama.(Barack Obama)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2009... Jeff Abramson's article "U.S. Atop Expanding Global Arms Market" in the December 2008 issue of Arms Control Today highlighted recent trends but did not point out a major challenge for the Obama administration: the urgent need to change U.S....