Rademaker at ACA
Both Paul and I were at the Arms Control Association annual meeting today, which included remarks by Assistant Secretary of State Stephen Rademaker. You’ll be hearing more about Rademaker’s talk …
2005
456 posts
More on North Korea and Libya
The NYT and WP stories are obviously describing two different intelligence methods, but the two don’t seem to exclude one another. Put together, they are perhaps compelling. Perhaps. Some relevant questions/comments: 1.When was the UF6 produced and shipped to Libya?…
North Korea Sold UF6 to Libya
The Washington Post and New York Times are reporting that the Department of Energy has concluded that North Korea is the source of nearly two tons of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) surrendered by Libya. The New York Times starts strong: [E]xtensive…
Iraq: No Large-Scale Chemical Warfare Efforts Since Early 1990s
No kidding. Arm Chair Generalist, a promising progressive international security blog, beats me to this one: The LA Times reports that the CIA has released a classified document noting that Baghdad abandoned its chemical weapons program in 1991 and “Iraq…
RNEP Returns
Post-test B61-11 mock-up (source) The Washington Post is reporting the the FY2006 budget due out in a few days will request $10.3 million to restart study of the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator (RNEP)— a “bunker busting” nuclear weapon. The RNEP…
ElBaradei in the News
Tom Hundley, foreign correspondant for the Chicago Tribune, extensively quotes former US U.S. ambassador to UN organizations in Vienna John Rich in defense of Mohamed ElBaradei: “ElBaradei is exactly the kind of person you would want in the role—someone from…
Whirledview: A New Blog of Note
Cheryl Rofer over at Whirledview, a nice blog maintained by three persons with excellent national security bona fides, has a sensible post about dropping the total U.S. nuclear arsenal to a few hundred deployed warheads. Check it out. I would…
Iraq Nuclear Scientist Publishes Memoir
Jafar Dia Jafar (right), a high ranking former Iraqi nuclear scientist, has written a Norwegian-language memoir, Oppdraget (The Assignment) about his years in the Iraqi nuclear weapons program. Jafar confirms something that other Iraqi nuclear weapons scientists have suggested: “the…
Dinner from Hell
We scholars of international relations often emphasize the role that large, impersonal forces play in driving policy. The habit is as old as recorded history, running all the way back to Thucydides, who said of the Peloponnesian War: The real…
QDR May Examine Nuclear Missions, Strike Options Against China
The 2001 Quadrennial Defense Review. Inside Defense reports that the 2005 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) may, for the first time, evaluate nuclear as well as conventional forces. Ryan Henry, principal deputy under secretary of defense for policy, would not confirm…