456 posts
Working on some odds and ends. Officials with the Iraq Survey Group tell The Washington Post that “the violence in Iraq, coupled with a lack of new information, led them to fold up the effort shortly before Christmas.” Is “shortly…
Reading Kevin Drum’s recent take on DepSecDef Wolfowitz’s laughable prewar testimony inspired two not-terribly-original thoughts. 1. Everyone who supported the Iraq invasion should be embarrassed. They should really rethink their qualifications to speak about any foreign policy issue, or at…
Pavel Podvig has added a blog to his page on Russian strategic forces. The most recent post explains why Russia will MIRV the Bulava but not the Topol-M.
John Deutch, “A Nuclear Posture for Today,” Foreign Affairs 84:1, January-February 2005. Former Director of Central Intelligence John Deutch has an article in Foreign Affairs outlining his vision for the future of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. It’s nice to know…
Not the only source of riddles along the Nile. In an effort to placate Dr. Lewis, I am back to blog—at least until I go to Utah this weekend. Recalling that it’s easier to tear down something than to build…
Program Budget Decision (PBD) 753 is a 26-page memorandum dated December 23. Marked “For Official Use Only: Unauthorized Release of the Following Program Budget Decision is Prohibited,” the document appeared in the press about two weeks later. PBD 753 outlines…
Hans Kristensen notes that the STRATCOM has changed the name of the Single Integrated Operational Plan—the nation’s nuclear war plan—to the less catchy OPLAN 8044. The reasoning? Rather than being a single operational plan, the SIOP is now “a collection…
Well, first Israel’s Atomic Energy Commission opened a website. Now, Israel’s censors have permitted Channel 10 to air a 14-minute video depicting wide-angle shots of Dimona (like the photograph at right), “including buses bringing staff to the site, well-ordered lines…
The United States is still trying out oust IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei. Bush’s Candidate to Replace ElBaradei? “They’ve already started lobbying in the capitals” for a no confidence vote, one diplomat told AP on condition of anonymity. “Whether or not…
This is a cartoon (right) from a briefing by the Joint Interrogation and Debriefing Center (JIDC) at Abu Ghraib prison, Iraq. It was, I believe, reproduced in a classified annex to the Taguba report. This isn’t really related to arms…
