Arms Control Today articles from October 2003

Arms Control Today archives from October 2003

A foundation to strengthen, not erode.(Focus)
October 1, 2003... Forty years ago this month, the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom began observing the first major arms control agreement of the nuclear age. The Limited Test Ban Treaty (LTBT), which took effect on October 10, 1963, not...

Bush's bipolar disorder and the looming failure of multilateral talks with North Korea.
October 1, 2003... Many U.S. "experts" and the Bush administration believe that the United States came out of the August 2003 six-party talks aimed at halting North Korea's nuclear weapons program in a stronger position than it went in--not least because the...

Is missile defense on target?
October 1, 2003... The clock is ticking. Last December, President George W. Bush announced plans to begin deployment of a strategic nationwide missile defense system at Fort Greely, Alaska, by September 30, 2004. With less than a year left before that deadline,...

The independence-dependence paradox: stability dilemmas in South Asia.
October 1, 2003... Has a new era of detente and stability emerged in South Asia five years after India and Pakistan first openly tested nuclear weapons? In the process, have India and Pakistan effectively demonstrated the value of nuclear weapons in deterring...

Concern heats up over Iran's nuclear program.(News And Negotiations)
October 1, 2003... THE INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors unanimously adopted a resolution Sept. 12 that sets an Oct. 31 deadline for Iran to cooperate fully with the agency's efforts to resolve concerns that Iran is pursuing a nuclear...

U.S. shows more flexibility in North Korea talks.(News And Negotiations)
October 1, 2003... WITH ANOTHER ROUND of sixparty talks concerning the North Korean nuclear crisis likely to take place, the Bush administration has signaled new flexibility in its bargaining position. Although U.S. policy is still far from fully formed, the...

Interdiction initiative starts to take shape.(News And Negotiations)
October 1, 2003... AIMING TO GIVE sea legs to their evolving effort to intercept global shipments of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), ballistic missiles, and related technologies to terrorists and countries of proliferation concern, participants of the...

Key hill panel faults intelligence community for flawed Iraq analysis; Kay report stalled.(News And Negotiations)
October 1, 2003... AS THE SEARCH for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMD) continues without any weapons discoveries and the Bush administration steadily retreats from some of its earlier claims, a key congressional committee has reportedly issued a harsh...

Bush calls on UN to curb proliferation.(News And Negotiations)
October 1, 2003... BUSH ADMINISTRATION is urging the UN Security Council to adopt an anti-proliferation resolution that would call upon member states to "criminalize" the proliferation of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. In a Sept. 23 address at the...

Iraq inquiry winds down; Blair suffers political blow.(News And Negotiations)
October 1, 2003... AS LORD HUTTON prepares to wrap up his investigation into the suicide of arms expert David Kelly, it seems that British Prime Minister Tony Blair will escape legal charges that his government had falsified and exaggerated prewar intelligence...

U.S. still reigns as top global arms seller.(News And Negotiations)
October 1, 2003... LAST YEAR, THE United States sold more arms than any other country, continuing a post-Cold War pattern, according to an authoritative Congressional Research Service (CRS) report published Sept. 22. The report by CRS analyst Richard Grimmett...

Chinese concession fails to end UN disarmament conference's stalemate.(News And Negotiations)
October 1, 2003... PROVING THE ADAGE that "the more things change, the more they stay the same," the 66-member Conference on Disarmament (CD) Sept. 10 concluded its fifth straight year without holding any negotiations. The stalemate persisted even though China...

Missile defense technologies still a work in progress.(News And Negotiations)
October 1, 2003... A YEAR BEFORE the Pentagon is scheduled to field the initial elements of the ground-based midcourse missile defense (GMD) system in Alaska, a majority of its critical technologies remain unproven, a recent U.S. government report found. In...

Senate okays funds for nuclear weapons research.(News And Negotiations)
October 1, 2003... THE REPUBLICAN-LED House and Senate are at odds over whether to fund new nuclear weapons initiatives proposed by the Bush administration. The Senate's fiscal year 2004 energy and water appropriations bill, approved Sept. 16, funds continued...

Countries sticking to timetable in pledges on eliminating landmines.(News And Negotiations)
October 1, 2003... COUNTRIES COMMITTED TO eliminating anti-personnel landmines (APLs) are matching their words with deeds, according to a Sept. 15-19 meeting of states-parties to the Ottawa Convention, which bars the use, production, stockpiling, and transfer of...

U.S. chemical weapons program to miss deadline.(News And Negotiations)
October 1, 2003... U.S. OFFICIALS INFORMED the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) last month that the United States will not meet a key interim deadline set by the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) to destroy nearly half of its chemical...

Congress grants Bush administration $9.1 billion for missile defense.(News And Negotiations)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... CONGRESS GAVE THE Pentagon nearly everything it sought fur total missile defense funding in fiscal year 2004--trimming a mere $5 million from an original $9.1 billion request. But not everyone won. Lawmakers increased funding for certain...

Summit leaves Iran, North Korea issues unresolved.(News And Negotiations)
October 1, 2003... DESPITE WHAT THEY described as "open, very frank" discussions about Iran's and North Korea's nuclear programs, U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin concluded their Sept. 26-27 talks at Camp David without any...

U.S. refuses to lift sanctions against Libya.(News And Negotiations)
October 1, 2003... CITING CONCERNS ABOUT Libya's pursuit of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), the United States will continue bilateral sanctions on Tripoli despite the UN Security Council's Sept. 12 decision formally to lift similar decade-old sanctions. ...

U.S. imposes more proliferation sanctions.(News And Negotiations)
October 1, 2003... THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION in September continued to show that it would not be shy about sanctioning entities suspected of proliferation activities, levying penalties against a Russian entity and a Chinese firm, as well as sanctioning the Chinese...

India, Pakistan trade barbs over nukes.(News And Negotiations)
October 1, 2003... PAKISTANI PRESIDENT PERVEZ Musharraf has denied reports that Pakistan shared its nuclear technology with other countries, namely North Korea. "All our [nuclear] assets are under strict control," Musharraf asserted Sept. 25 at a gathering in...

U.S. launches bio program for Russian scientists.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... The U.S. Department of State Sept. 15 announced a new initiative that aims to counter the threat of bioterrorism by channeling former Soviet bioweapons capabilities into health programs. To kick off the "BioIndustry Initiative," the department...

Russia takes back HEU from Romania.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Stepping up efforts to secure materials usable in weapons of mass destruction, about 14 kg (31 lbs.) of weapons-usable highly enriched uranium (HEU) reactor fuel was airlifted from Romania to Russia on Sept. 21. According to the International...

Nuclear cities program ends.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... The Nuclear Cities Initiative, a U.S. sponsored program established in 1998 to provide nonmilitary work to the scientists and engineers of Russia's closed nuclear cities, lapsed on Sept. 22 because Washington and Moscow were unable to negotiate...

Bolton accuses Syria of developing WMD.(Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Bolton)(weapons of mass destruction )(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Bolton has reiterated U.S. concerns that Syria is developing weapons of mass destruction (WMD). During a Sept. 16 hearing before the House International Relations...

Liaison to encourage treaty ratification.(Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... In an effort to promote the entry into force of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), CTBT members have decided to designate one country to act as a liaison between the ratifiers and the countries whose ratifications are needed for the...

Limited test ban treaty turns 40.(Looking Back)
October 1, 2003... LIKE ALL FIRST steps, it was long awaited, tentative, and not without risk. Yet, it also held out promise. The Limited Test Ban Treaty (LTBT), the first agreement negotiated to regulate the U.S.-Soviet nuclear competition, went into effect Oct....

Letters to the Editor.(Readers' Voices)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2003... It has been a number of years since Arms Control Today has consistently run letters. With this issue, ACT is rededicating itself to giving you, our readers, a regular voice in the magazine. This letter refers to "What Happened to Saddam's...

Correction.(Reader's Voices)(Correction Notice)
October 1, 2003... The "House Energy and Water Appropriation for Nuclear Weapons Activities" chart on page 38 of the September issue mislabeled the difference between the administration's requested amount and the actual allocation for weapons activities. The...