Arms Control Today articles from May 2006

Arms Control Today archives from May 2006

Editor's note.(security of nuclear weapons)(Editorial)
May 1, 2006... Fifteen years ago, the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union produced unimaginable opportunities for enhancing global peace and security. But it also produced new dangers. Most worrisome to many U.S. policymakers was the...

Iran: breaking the cycle of escalation.
May 1, 2006... Since talks between Iran and three leading European states fell apart last August, the impasse over Iran's nuclear program has steadily worsened. Each time Washington and its European partners ratchet up international pressure on Iran to slow...

Notable quotable.(James Cartwright)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... "The problem that we have today is that the ballistic missile alternative is purely nuclear and given the range of threats that are out there, a nuclear weapon as the first shot is really difficult to fathom." --General James Cartwright,...

Transparency in the Middle East.(weapons of mass destruction)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Current U.S. diplomatic efforts in the Middle East are focusing on the elimination of Iraq's nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons and the ballistic missiles that can deliver such weapons over long ranges. This is a significant part of a...

By the numbers.(InBRIEF)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... The Global Partnership At a June 2002 Group of Eight (G-8) summit in Kananaskis, Canada, the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States established the Global Partnership Against the...

Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty.(Georgia and Russia sign agreement to close Soviet-era military bases)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... On March 31, Georgia and Russia signed an agreement committing the Kremlin to close its last two Soviet-era military bases in Georgia by the end of 2008. The Georgian parliament approved the agreement April 13, but Russia's legislature has yet...

Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.(Italy signs facility agreement)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Italy signed a facility agreement March 29 with the preparatory commission to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO). The agreement allows the CTBTO to work on one auxiliary seismic station and one radionuclide laboratory...

IAEA additional protocol.(International Atomic Energy Agency)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... On March 9, Haiti ratified its version of the 1997 International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Model Additional Protocol, which allow for more intrusive inspections within states to ensure that no clandestine nuclear weapons activities are taking...

Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, Protocol V.(treaty ratification)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... On Dec. 8, Bulgaria and Norway consented to be bound by Protocol V of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, which covers explosive remnants of war. The Holy See did the same on Dec. 13. The protocol details countries' responsibilities...

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.(Nobuaki Tanaka appointed as undersecretary general)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has named former Japanese ambassador to Pakistan Nobuaki Tanaka to succeed Nobuyasu Abe as undersecretary general for disarmament affairs. Abe resigned from the UN post in January.

Air Force Space Command.(Lance W. Lord retired)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Gen. Lance W. Lord has retired as commander of Air Force Space Command after serving in that position since April 2002. He is succeeded temporarily by Vice Commander Lt. Gen. Frank G. Klotz.

Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation.(Stephen Rademaker to resign)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Stephen Rademaker, acting assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, has confirmed that he will resign to go to the private sector once a successor has been found. Also in the same office,...

International Atomic Energy Agency.(Ali Asghar Soltanieh appointed)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Iran's representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, has been appointed as Iran's permanent envoy to the UN office in Vienna and all other Vienna-based international organizations.

On the calendar.(What's Ahead)
May 1, 2006... May 16-19 Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Executive Council: 45th Session, The Hague. May 29-June 2 Nuclear Suppliers Group meeting, Rio de Janeiro. June 12 International Atomic Energy...

Nunn-Lugar at 15: no time to relax global threat reduction efforts.(Sam Nunn, Richard Lugar, senators)
May 1, 2006... The Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program, which will celebrate its fifteenth birthday later this year, is one of the clear successes of post-Cold War diplomacy. CTR was established in 1991 to prevent the proliferation of nuclear,...

Seizing the moment: using the U.S.-Indian nuclear deal to improve fissile material security.
May 1, 2006... The July 2005 agreement that could result in the United States sharing civilian nuclear technology with India has raised many legitimate questions about the future of the nuclear nonproliferation regime. The intense debate about the potential...

Resolution 1540: universalizing export control standards?
May 1, 2006... In 2003, President George W. Bush called on the United Nations to pass a resolution to "criminalize" the proliferation of "weapons of mass destruction" (WMD) by and to nonstate actors. The next year, the UN Security Council obliged, passing...

Congress ponders conditions for U.S.-Indian deal.
May 1, 2006... Indian and U.S. government officials have warned that their proposed civil nuclear cooperation deal should not be tampered with, lest it unravel. Yet, even U.S. lawmakers supportive of the deal have said congressional conditions should be...

Hobson aims to rein in warhead program.(David Hobson )
May 1, 2006... Critical of the military utility of developing new nuclear weapons, Rep. David Hobson (R-Ohio) led lawmakers the last two years in killing a Bush administration research program on an enhanced "bunker buster" for the U.S. nuclear stockpile....

Pentagon details Hussein's pre-invasion efforts.(Saddam Hussein)
May 1, 2006... A Pentagon report released March 24 offers new insights into Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's pre-war actions related to his country's then-suspected nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons programs and the response of the United States and...

Pentagon defends global-strike plan.
May 1, 2006... A recently unveiled initiative to arm some U.S. submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with conventional warheads has lawmakers wondering whether dangerous misunderstandings and miscalculations could arise with other nuclear powers,...

Libya chemical weapons destruction costly.(THE UNITED STATES AND THE AMERICAS)
May 1, 2006... The United States is considering aiding Libya with the destruction of its chemical weapons stockpile, but Department of Defense officials are expressing reservations about spending the department's limited threat reduction funds on a...

Security Council mulls response to Iran.(THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA)
May 1, 2006... The UN Security Council is mulling possible responses to Iran's failure to comply with a March 29 presidential statement that called on Tehran to resolve concerns about its nuclear programs and to re-suspend its uranium-enrichment activities....

Reports grow that U.S. plots strike against Iran.(THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA)
May 1, 2006... Even as the Bush administration continues its diplomatic efforts to resolve the international dispute surrounding Tehran's nuclear programs, recent press reports have increased concern that the United States may take military action against...

House approves Iran sanctions bill.(THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA)(nuclear nonproliferation)
May 1, 2006... The House April 26 overwhelmingly approved legislation tightening sanctions aimed at curbing progress in Iran's nuclear program. The 397-21 vote came despite Bush administration concerns that the measure might harm relations with some U.S....

Australia, China conclude nuclear deal.(ASIA AND AUSTRALIA)
May 1, 2006... Australia and China April 3 concluded two agreements to increase nuclear cooperation. Although the agreements must still be ratified by each country before entering into force, they appear to pave the way for Canberra to help supply Beijing's...

U.S. steps up North Korea sanctions.(Kohas AG)
May 1, 2006... The Department of the Treasury announced March 30 that it had imposed penalties on a Swiss company, along with one of its owners, for procuring "goods with weapons-related applications" for North Korea. The move follows about a dozen similar...

Correction.(Correction notice)
May 1, 2006... Robert W. Nelson's article "If it Ain't Broke: The Already Reliable U.S. Nuclear Arsenal" of the April 2006 issue contained a mathematical error. The sentence should have read: "An improvement in accuracy by a factor of two, for example,...

The Global Partnership--a mixed record.
May 1, 2006... Nearly four years ago, several leading countries agreed to better coordinate and expand their efforts to secure and destroy stockpiles of unconventional weapons and materials housed in Russia and other former Soviet states. Almost halfway...

Uzbek nuclear material removed.
May 1, 2006... Under a classified mission, spent fuel containing 63 kilograms of highly enriched uranium (HEU) was successfully returned to Russia from Uzbekistan, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the International Atomic Energy Agency...

U.S. unable to meet CWC 2012 deadline.(Chemical Weapons Convention)
May 1, 2006... The United States has announced that it will not be able to destroy its stockpile of chemical weapons before a final deadline required by the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), even with the maximum one-time extension permitted by the treaty....

Book review: treaty and tragedy.(The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty: An Insider's Perspective)(Book review)
May 1, 2006... The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty: An Insider's Perspective By Keith A. Hansen Stanford University Press, March 2006, 233 pp. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Ten years ago this fall at the United Nations, President Bill Clinton...

The Last Battle of the Cold War: An Inside Account of Negotiating the INF Treaty.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 1, 2006... The Last Battle of the Cold War: An Inside Account of Negotiating the INF Treaty By Maynard W. Glitman. Palgrave Macmillan, April 2006, 259 pp. Ambassador Maynard W. Glitman, who served as the lead U.S. negotiator for the...

Common Security in Outer Space and International Law.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 1, 2006... Common Security in Outer Space and International Law By Detlev Wolter. UN Institute for Disarmament Research, February 2006, 296 pp. German diplomat Detlev Wolter recommends the negotiation of a new legal instrument that would seek to...

Minimum Deterrence and India's Nuclear Security.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 1, 2006... Minimum Deterrence and India's Nuclear Security By Rajesh M. Basrur. Stanford University Press, January 2006, 245 pp. Rajesh M. Basrur offers a detailed definition of minimum deterrence as a strategic doctrine and a considered defense...