Back on-line
So, it turns out that moving to another country is hard work and doesn’t leave you much time for blogging… Who knew? Anyway, I am now installed at Carnegie and ready to start blogging again—once I have caught up on…
James Acton
Writing on ACW 2007–2010 · 88 posts · On the podcast: 2 episodes
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NSG Exemption (Take 2)
The Arms Control Association has the revised text for India’s draft NSG exemption. I thought it might be fun to compare, word for word, the old text with the new. It wasn’t (I got rather obsessive about it). However, I…
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Moving on
Today is my last day at King’s College London. I’ve been at King’s (in one capacity for another) for almost two years and I’ve enjoyed them thoroughly. I’d like to say a big public thank you to everyone I’ve worked…
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What to do with British Pu?
Here’s an interesting factoid. The UK and US each possess about 100 MT of separated plutonium. However, the UK stockpile is largely civilian, whereas the US stockpile is almost entirely military. The UK is currently engaged in a debate about…
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Reflections on Chris Ford
We’ve just had a public holiday in the UK and, in consequence, a long weekend but I wanted to add a few thoughts to Jeffrey’s post last Friday about Chris Ford’s resignation. Being the US representative at NPT meetings is…
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What Does Article IV Mean?
One of the perennial debates that rages in the comments section of this blog is about the meaning of article IV of the NPT. As a quick recap, recall that article IV.1 states that Nothing in this Treaty shall be…
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USAF Organizational Culture and Reform
The Wonk—or more accurately Jeffrey—has been writing for a while about the organizational problems faced by the US Air Force in its handling of nuclear weapons (see this, this and this). In summary, Jeffery’s oft-repeated argument is this: Heads are…
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India's NSG Exemption
The US has apparently finished drafting the NSG exemption for nuclear trade with India (apologies, this is a few days old—I’ve been behind on my blogging). At a meeting in London last month US Ambassador to the IAEA Greg Schulte…
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Continuous Deterrence: Still Necessary?
I’ve had UK nuclear issues on my mind a lot recently—all sparked off by my Barcelona talk, I guess. Preparing for that talk, I spent a lot of time reading the transcript of the House of Commons Defence Committee’s enquiry…
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Miliband hosts disarmament meeting
Speaking of Foreign Secretaries… I’ve known for a while that Britain’s current incumbent, David Miliband, personally hosted a small round table on disarmament last month. Most of what I have heard has been on an off-the-record basis so I haven’t…