Arms Control Today articles from November 2004

Arms Control Today archives from November 2004

Editor's note.(Editorial)
November 1, 2004... I ran's failure to fulfill its obligations as a nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) state-party, Syria's alleged pursuit of chemical weapons, and Israel's failure to sign the NPT and its continued possession of nuclear weapons illustrate the...

Obsolete relics of a dead conflict.(FOCUS)
November 1, 2004... Some habits, even dangerous ones, can be difficult to break. Nearly 50 years ago, the United States introduced so-called tactical nuclear weapons into NATO forces in Europe to deter and, if necessary, use against a Soviet land attack. Not long...

Notable quotable.(In BRIEF)
November 1, 2004... Q: "If you are elected president, what will you take to that office thinking is the single most serious threat to the national security to the United States?" Jim Lehrer, PBS anchor, Sept. 30 Presidential Debate A: "Nuclear...

Ballistic missiles in the third world.(15 Years Ago in ACT)
November 1, 2004... Realism need not be a pretext for fatalism. The proliferation of ballistic missiles cannot be reversed or eliminated, but some of its most troublesome aspects probably can be contained. As has been demonstrated in the nuclear nonproliferation...

Global fissile material inventories.(Reports of Note)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... This report estimates that global stockpiles of highly enriched uranium (HEU) and plutonium--the essential materials for nuclear weapons--are growing. The authors estimate that plutonium stockpiles alone are expanding by 70-75 metric tons each...

The military balance: 2004/2005.(Reports of Note)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The annual assessment of global security threats blames U.S. involvement in Iraq to an increase in nuclear proliferation activities. The report says the U.S. preoccupation with Iraq spurred Iran and North Korea to challenge directives over the...

A fresh examination of the proliferation dangers of light-water reactors.(Reports of Note)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... In trying to encourage countries such as North Korea and Iran away from the widely acknowledged proliferation dangers posed by heavy-water nuclear reactors and other nuclear technology, the United States and its allies in Europe and Asia have...

Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons.(Treaty Update)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... On Sept. 23, Poland joined Protocol IV of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). That protocol prohibits the use of blinding lasers. The same month, Paraguay, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, and Malta joined amended Protocol II, which...

Chemical Weapons Convention.(Treaty Update)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in October recommended eliminating the requirement that states joining the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) must have completed the conversion of their...

What's ahead on the calendar.(Brief Article)(Calendar)
November 1, 2004... What's Ahead On the Calendar Nov. 15-19 Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization: 23rd Session. Vienna, Austria. Nov. 18-19 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons: ...

Time for arms talks? Iran, Israel, and Middle East arms control.
November 1, 2004... The Middle East has all it takes to frustrate international arms control regimes. Key regional actors do not recognize one actor's right to exist, let alone share diplomatic relations. Countries in the region perceive their own security as...

Weapons in the heavens: a radical and reckless option.
November 1, 2004... Of all the risky "transformation" initiatives championed by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, the one receiving the least media attention is the weaponization of space. Shortly before arriving for his second tour at the Pentagon, Rumsfeld...

Programs to watch.
November 1, 2004... The United States will spend about $3 billion in 2005 on space control and space force projection programs. More than 90 percent of this money, however, will supplement U.S. command, control, and intelligence systems. The Pentagon did seek a...

False alarm on foreign capabilities.
November 1, 2004... The Commission to Assess U.S. National Security Space Management and Organization, which Donald Rumsfeld chaired until his nomination as Secretary of Defense, warned of a coming "Space Pearl Harbor." (1) During congressional testimony in 2002,...

National Space Policy: evolution by stealth?
November 1, 2004... In recent years, Pentagon advocacy for pursuing a strategy of "space control" that includes war-fighting "in, from and through space" (1) has reached a fever pitch. Top Pentagon and Air Force space officials have repeatedly testified to...

Iraq and the value of on-site inspections.
November 1, 2004... In the dramatic speech Secretary of State Colin Powell made to the UN Security Council on Iraq and its alleged weapons of mass destruction on February 5, 2003, a key piece of the evidence presented was images of decontamination trucks at a...

The long road to on-site inspection.
November 1, 2004... The effort to achieve broad acceptance of on-site inspection (OSI) is a story of high diplomacy, creativity, and determination through several U.S. administrations. The ambitious but somewhat naive Baruch Plan, put forward by the United States...

Iran considers EU compromise proposal.(In The NEWS)
November 1, 2004... Representatives from France, Germany, and the United Kingdom met with Iranian officials twice in October in an effort to head off a possible diplomatic showdown over its nuclear program. But Tehran sent mixed signals as to whether it will agree...

U.S. punishes 14 for Iran arms trade.
November 1, 2004... The United States has sanctioned 14 entities from seven different countries for allegedly providing Iran with exports that could be used to develop unconventional weapons and the means to deliver them. The move came amid ongoing worldwide...

Duelfer disproves U.S. WMD claims.(THE UNITED STATES AND THE AMERICAS)
November 1, 2004... Charles Duelfer, the CIA's special adviser to the Iraq Survey Group (ISG), told the Senate Armed Services Committee Oct. 6 that Iraq destroyed its stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, as well as eliminated its nuclear weapons program,...

Did Iraqi materials, experts escape?(THE UNITED STATES AND THE AMERICAS)
November 1, 2004... The unstable security conditions that have reigned in Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion may have allowed both unconventional weapons experts and weapons-related equipment to escape, according to U.S. and international officials. ...

Hill passes defense authorization bill.(THE UNITED STATES AND THE AMERICAS)
November 1, 2004... Congress gave its blessing Oct. 9 to the Bush administration's nuclear weapons, threat reduction, and missile defense plans. But lawmakers did not give the administration everything it wanted and tasked it with making several new reports on...

Panel: secret nuclear attacks possible.(THE UNITED STATES AND THE AMERICAS)
November 1, 2004... A Pentagon panel recently concluded an attacker could easily smuggle a nuclear weapon into the United States and detonate it. The panel did not prescribe a specific strategy to thwart this threat but recommended an open-ended,...

Brazil permits greater IAEA inspection.(THE UNITED STATES AND THE AMERICAS)
November 1, 2004... Brazil Oct. 19 granted International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors limited access to crucial uranium-enrichment technology, increasing the prospects for an end to a nearly six-month-old standoff over the South American giant's nuclear...

Taiwan's Chen proposes arms control with China, but seeks U.S. arms.(ASIA AND AUSTRALIA)
November 1, 2004... While lobbying for legislative approval of a huge U.S. arms package offer, Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian suggested Oct. 10 that Taiwan and China give arms control a thought. Beijing, which is pressing Europe to drop a long-standing Chinese...

Missile regime puts off China.(ASIA AND AUSTRALIA)
November 1, 2004... More than 30 countries dedicated to limiting the spread of ballistic missiles decided in October against letting China join their group because of Beijing's alleged failure to meet their nonproliferation standards. They also expanded the list...

U.S.-Pakistani F-16 deal up in the air.(ASIA AND AUSTRALIA)
November 1, 2004... U.S. and Pakistani officials are denying claims by a senior Pakistani military commander that Washington is about to fulfill Islamabad's long-stymied and controversial quest for advanced U.S. combat aircraft. Pakistani Air Chief Marshal...

India and Pakistan set missile talks.(ASIA AND AUSTRALIA)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... India and Pakistan are moving forward in their plan to build on recent diplomatic exchanges conducted between the two Southeast Asian rivals since the new Indian government assumed power in May. Experts from both countries will meet Dec....

EU deepens ties with Libya, Syria.(EUROPE AND THE FORMER SOVIET UNION)
November 1, 2004... The European Union took steps in October to engage more broadly Syria and Libya, two countries whose proliferation behavior had been previously an obstacle to deeper ties. The EU foreign ministers agreed Oct.11 to lift completely an almost...

Tri-nation missile defense funded.(EUROPE AND THE FORMER SOVIET UNION)
November 1, 2004... A long-delayed effort by the United States, Germany, and Italy to field a joint missile defense system to protect troops on the battlefield picked up momentum Sept. 28 with the announcement of a $3 billion contract to begin design and...

U.S., Russia debate tactical nuclear arms.(EUROPE AND THE FORMER SOVIET UNION)
November 1, 2004... Washington and Moscow sparred over each other's tactical nuclear weapons following an Oct. 5-6 visit to Russia by a senior Department of State official, who also rebuked Russia for not withdrawing its armed forces from two of its neighbors. ...

U.S. tops global arms exports.(THE WORLD)
November 1, 2004... Despite a minimal drop in the total number of conventional weapons exported worldwide in 2003, the United States and other top arms exporters, except for Russia, reported increased weapons deliveries for the year, according to submissions to...

British call for arms trade treaty.(THE WORLD)
November 1, 2004... British Foreign Minister Jack Straw said Sept. 30 that the United Kingdom would work to build support for a treaty on the international arms trade, although he provided few details about what London envisioned. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

Avoiding the Tipping Point.(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... The Nuclear Tipping Point: Why States Reconsider Their Nuclear Choices Edited by Kurt M. Campbell Robert J. Einhorn and Mitchell B. Reiss Brookings Institution Press, July 2004, 285 pp. In 1958, British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan...

No End in Sight: The Continuing Menace of Nuclear Proliferation.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... No End in Sight: The Continuing Menace of Nuclear Proliferation by Nathan E. Busch, University Press of Kentucky June 2004, 490 pp. Nathan E. Busch reprises and seeks to resolve a long-standing academic debate about the danger nuclear...

The Bomb in My Garden: The Secrets of Saddam's Nuclear Mastermind.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... The Bomb in My Garden: The Secrets of Saddam's Nuclear Mastermind by Mahdi Obeidi and Kurt Pitzer, John Wiley & Sons September 2004, 256 pp. Mahdi Obeidi, who at one time headed Iraq's uranium-enrichment program and later became...

The Problem of Biological Weapons.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... The Problem of Biological Weapons by Milton Leitenberg, Swedish National Defence College September 2004, 206 pp. Milton Leitenberg offers a comprehensive analysis of biological weapons starting from the entry into force of the...

Coherence matters.(Letters TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... Robert S. Norris and Hans M. Kristensen in What's Behind Bush's Nuclear Cuts (ACT, October 2004) highlighted why the cuts in the Russian and U.S. arsenals called for in the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT) are not getting...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
November 1, 2004... A photograph on page 22 of the October Issue was mis-identified. The photograph is of Chinese Vice Minister Zhang Yesul, not Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]