Arms Control Today articles from September 2004

Arms Control Today archives from September 2004

Editor's note.(arms control)
September 1, 2004... There are few countries that Americans--and even American diplomats--understand less than North Korea. Yet, there also are few regimes whose policies and behaviors are as important to U.S. and regional security as that of Kim Jong II. If either...

Trust, but don't verify.(Focus; nuclear weapons control)
September 1, 2004... The dangers posed by today's non-conventional weapons necessitate prompt and vigorous action to dismantle arsenals and block the transfer, stockpiling, and production of highly enriched uranium and plutonium--the fissile material needed to...

Notable quotable.(InBrief)
September 1, 2004... "The U.S. policy review, however, raised serious concerns that realistic, effective verification of an FMCT [fissile material cutoff treaty] is not achievable. We look forward to presenting our concerns in detail about verification in the...

Create the 'cutoff' committee first.(Ten Years Ago in ACT)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Differences in our respective approaches to a cutoff treaty probably are reconcilable in a detailed negotiation, [and] we must... avoid the temptation to negotiate the substantive issues before the negotiating committee is established. ...

By the numbers.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Worldwide Ballistic Missile Arsenals 31 Countries with ballistic missiles 5 Countries with ICBMs (China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, United States) (1) 0 Countries with intermediate-range ballistic missiles (2)...

Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).(Treaty Update)
September 1, 2004... Japan is planning to hold a foreign ministers meeting this month in New York with the aim of persuading states to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). Of the 44 designated states that must sign and ratify the treaty before it can go...

International Atomic Energy Agency additional protocol.(Treaty Update)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Niger signed an additional protocol to its general safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) June 11. The protocol will expand the IAEA's authority to conduct wider ranging inspections, including visits to...

Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR).(Treaty Update)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... In June, Bulgaria joined the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), a voluntary regime which aims to limit the spread of ballistic missiles and other unmanned delivery systems that could be used to deliver weapons of mass destruction. As the...

Keeping track.(arms control)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... The following congressionally mandated reports on U.S. arms and arms control policy had been overdue. Here's where they stand now. Adherence to and Compliance With Arms Control and Nonproliferation Agreements and Commitments Due August...

What's ahead: on the calendar.(arms control)(Calendar)
September 1, 2004... Sept. 5-6 Sept. 5-6 Meeting between Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri and Indian External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh. Nuclear confidence-building measures may be on the...

North Korea nuclear talks: the view from Pyongyang.(Cover Story)
September 1, 2004... In June the Bush administration made its first serious proposal to end a nearly two-year-old standoff over North Korea's nuclear program. The administration is to be commended for abandoning its "take it or leave it" position after a year of...

Can Bush or Kerry prevent nuclear terrorism?
September 1, 2004... If there is any issue on which leaders from all sides of the political spectrum agree, it is the importance of preventing nuclear terrorism. As the independent commission that investigated the September 11 terrorist attacks recently stated,...

Contending with explosive remnants of war.
September 1, 2004... During the U.S.-led military invasion to remove then-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from power, Iraqi forces abandoned enormous quantities of unguarded arms and ammunition. As one expert observer noted, "Piles of ammunition, mines, small arms...

Bush shifts fissile material ban policy.(The World; George W. Bush)
September 1, 2004... Following an internal policy review lasting well over a year, the Bush administration has reaffirmed past U.S. policy to negotiate a treaty ending the production of two key materials for nuclear arms. But it has added a new twist: it does not...

UK proposes boosting UN bio probes.(The World)
September 1, 2004... A British proposal to strengthen the capabilities of the UN secretary-general to investigate alleged uses of biological and toxin weapons has run into resistance from the United States. At the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) Annual...

ElBaradei appoints fuel cycle group.(The World)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei has tapped a Swiss arms control expert to lead a 23-member expert panel that will examine alternative ways to provide and dispose of key civilian nuclear materials in...

News analysis; Missile defense: deploying a work in progress.(The United States and the Americas)
September 1, 2004... Sometime over the next several weeks, most likely around Oct. 1, President George W. Bush or Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld will stride to a podium and announce that the initial elements of a missile defense system are now in place and...

Pentagon gets $416 billion from Congress.(The United States and the Americas)
September 1, 2004... President George W. Bush Aug. 5 signed into law the fiscal year 2005 Defense Appropriations Act granting the Pentagon $416 billion in new funding. The spending measure provides $121 billion for the Pentagon to keep up its existing military...

IAEA envoy nomination held over CTBT.(The United States and the Americas)
September 1, 2004... The nomination of a key U.S. arms control envoy has been held up by opposition from Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), an outspoken critic of many arms control agreements. Kyl, chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee, has put a "hold" on...

9/11 panel: WMD "greatest danger".(The United States and the Americas)
September 1, 2004... The "greatest danger of another catastrophic attack in the United States" comes from weapons of mass destruction (WMD), according to the July 22 report released by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States. The...

Senate panel blasts pre-war intelligence.(Iraq Intelligence Failures)
September 1, 2004... A Senate Intelligence Committee report released this summer critiquing the failure of the intelligence community to accurately portray Iraq's pre-war weapons programs centered on a faulty October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE). ...

"Serious flaws" found in British dossier.(Iraq Intelligence Failures)
September 1, 2004... The British intelligence on Iraq's weapons capabilities used to justify the March 2003 invasion contained "serious flaws," according to a committee charged with reviewing the assessments. The committee, appointed by Prime Minister Tony...

Australian intelligence reviewed.(Iraq Intelligence Failures)(Australian Intelligence Community )
September 1, 2004... Arecent investigation into Australia's intelligence agencies asserts that Australia's intelligence organizations "failed to judge accurately the extent and nature" of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs before the 2003 war, but commends...

IAEA Iran probe winding down; Dispute with U.S., EU continues.(The Middle East and Africa)
September 1, 2004... In advance of a meeting beginning Sept. 13, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei is to present the agency's Board of Governors with a report describing progress in the two-year investigation of Iran's...

Steps to developing a nuclear weapon: the uranium route.(The Middle East and Africa)
September 1, 2004... Along with plutonium, highly enriched uranium (HEU) is one of two key materials that can be used as the explosive material in nuclear weapons. For two years, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been probing Iran's covert use of...

Israel, Iran flex missiles.(The Middle East and Africa)
September 1, 2004... Israel and Iran spent the last weeks of the summer conducting missile tests and exchanging verbal volleys about their determination to match each other's weapons capabilities. On July 29, Israel, for the first time, successfully tested its...

IAEA to host Middle East nuclear forum.(The Middle East and Africa)
September 1, 2004... Hoping to advance long-stalled efforts to create a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will host a discussion in January with Israel and its other neighbors about how such zones have...

Iraqi nuclear materials secured.(The Middle East and Africa)
September 1, 2004... Fifteen months after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the United States has removed nuclear material from the country that posed a potential proliferation threat, Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham announced July 6. Department of Energy...

North Korea criticizes U.S. nuclear proposal, blasts Bush.(Asia and Australia)
September 1, 2004... A series of recent statements from North Korea has raised doubts about whether September nuclear talks with the United States and four other countries will take place, despite the participants' June agreement to hold them. Since the June...

New North Korean missile suspected.(Asia and Australia)
September 1, 2004... North Korea is "in the process of deploying" a new intermediate-range ballistic missile, a Department of State official told Arms Control Today Aug. 18. The missile might be able to fly up to three times as far as previous North Korean...

Pakistan introduces export control bill.(Asia and Australia)
September 1, 2004... Pakistan's government took steps to ease concerns about control of its nuclear weapons program by introducing legislation to tighten export control restrictions. The move comes several months after the February disclosure that Abdul Qadeer...

India, Pakistan seek missile test pact.(Asia and Australia)
September 1, 2004... India and Pakistan have agreed to develop a formal system for early notification of missile tests after a summer of high-level diplomacy between the long-standing South Asian rivals. The measure was the most concrete achievement of a series...

EU eyes lifting China arms embargo.(Europe and the Former Soviet Union)
September 1, 2004... Despite adamant U.S. opposition, France and Germany are pushing to repeal a 15-year-old European Union arms embargo on China. Last December, Paris successfully prodded the EU leadership to reconsider the ban. Now, expectations are high both...

Dispute over Russian withdrawals from Georgia, Moldova stall CFE Treaty.(Europe and the Former Soviet Union)
September 1, 2004... Russian lawmakers and President Vladimir Putin recently approved a five-year-old treaty limiting conventional weapons stationed in Europe. Yet, the treaty's prospects for entering into force anytime soon are dim because of Western concern over...

UK, U.S. set to extend nuclear pact.(Europe and the Former Soviet Union)
September 1, 2004... U.S. and British officials decided in June to extend an agreement that allows the exchange of nuclear weapons information between the two countries. Some critics are concerned, however, that the agreement undermines nonproliferation efforts and...

Russia holds nuclear terror drills.(Europe and the Former Soviet Union)
September 1, 2004... In August, NATO officials had their first up-close look at Russia's efforts to defend its nuclear arsenal against terrorist attacks. On Aug. 3-5, "Avaria 2004" (Accident 2004) exercises involving more than 1,000 army troops and various law...

Engaging India: Diplomacy, Democracy, and the Bomb.(Book Review)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Engaging India: Diplomacy, Democracy, and the Bomb Strobe Talbott Brookings Institution Press, August 2004, 268 pp. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Strobe Talbott's memoir, Engaging India: Diplomacy, Democracy and the Bomb, offers...

Combating Proliferation: Strategic Intelligence and Security Policy.(Books of Note)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Combating Proliferation: Strategic Intelligence and Security Policy by Jason D. Ellis and Geoffrey D. Kieffer, Johns Hopkins University Press, September 2004, 320 pp. Jason Ellis and Geoffrey Kieffer take a critical look at the...

Neither Star Wars nor Sanctuary: Constraining the Military Uses of Space.(Books of Note)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Neither Star Wars nor Sanctuary: Constraining the Military Uses of Space by Michael E. O'Hanlon, Brookings Institution Press, April 2004, 120 pp. Michael E. O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, presents a logical...

Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe.(Books of Note)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe by Graham Allison, Times Books, August 2004, 272 pp. If decision-makers in Washington keep doing what they are doing, it is only a matter of time before the United States is hit...