Writing on ACW 2004–2026 · 2,079 posts
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Say that three times fast. And, yes that is a picture of Iran’s 164 centrifuge cascade. Reuters’ Mark Heinrich reports that Iran has completed a second 164 centrigue cascade at the Natanz pilot fuel enrichment plant—but that the Iranians are…
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If Arms Control Wonk.com had a mascot, it would be Mark Fiore’s Buster, the friendly nuke. (That or maybe Nick Neutron. Tough call.) Anyway, Fiore’s Axis of Oops is brilliant. He joins the The Onion in using satire to better…
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Momentarily lost in the hullaballoo over North Korea’s probable failed nuclear test is the last state to test a nuclear weapon as well as lie about the yield: India. Oh, they are going to love that statement on the Bharat…
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Peter Zimmerman and I have the cover article in Foreign Policy magazine (subscription only), arguing that nuclear weapons are a bargain for the large, sophisticated terrorist organization. We basically asked, were we a terrorist group, how would we do it…
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Hey, I somehow missed that we have a new national space policy. (Unclassified version). Last I checked, the thing was in Draft 30-something —30-something, by the way: not hyperbole—and another victim of the totally dysfunctional interagency process. Anyway, the key…
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Regular readers will notice that Jane Vaynman has been guest blogging for the last couple of weeks. Well, she hasn’t been guest blogging. Jane—who is spending the year in Moscow on a Fulbright—is replacing Paul, who will be starting his…
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Normally I don’t bother with Gertz, but this is priceless: Nuclear volleyball Intelligence photographs of North Korea’s nuclear test site showed technicians playing volleyball this week near the tunnel where a nuclear device was unsuccessfully set off on Sunday. The…
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One possible explanation for a failed test is that the North Koreans attempted to skip directly to an operational weapons design (say 1000-2000 lbs like the US Mk 7). Indeed, this was precisely what was reported in the press in…
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Well, the French are the first to drop the F-bomb on North Korea—failure. Speaking to reporters, French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie (right) said “it was an explosion with a force of about half a kiloton, which is not an extremely…
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HA HA HA HA. I love the US Geological Survey. They’ve published lat/long (41.294°N, 129.134°E) and Mb estimates (4.2) for the North Korean test. There is lots of data floating around: The CTBTO called it 4.0; The South Koreans report…
