Years · 2007

April 2007

26 posts

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Tenet Memoir A Little Hazy

So, I am reading my copy of George Tenet’s At the Center of the Storm. I turn to the account of the strike on Dora Farm first. Tenet offers the standard account—embellished by an odd new detail here, an occasional…

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Shachtman Back In Town, May 3 at Big Hunt

Noah is back on town next week, which means … we get our annual chance to watch him vomit on some unsuspecting intern’s penny loafers! Sorry kid. Welcome to Washington. The impending mayhem—which I believe is the third annual Arms…

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Warm Standby On Offer?

Despite White House denials that the U.S. is “considering any proposals that would allow the Iranians to retain any enrichment-related activities,” AP’s George Jahn reports that the United States is considering a “cold standby” proposal for Natanz that would Iran…

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Senators: 'Tsup With India-Iran Mil-to-Mil?

Greetings from the Red Carpet Club in Tokyo’s Narita Airport, where I am awaiting my (now delayed) flight back to DC. I came across this interesting little document, a letter from six eight Senators to Indian President Prime Minister Singh…

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Why Bush Didn't Try to Stop The ASAT Test

Michael Gordon in the New York Times—disclaimer: I am quoted—details the Bush Administration’s decision to say nothing to Chinese to discourage their January 2007 ASAT test: What administration officials did not say is that as the Chinese were preparing to…

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Tune In Tokyo; NFIRE Set to Launch

Hey, all. I am in Tokyo, attending a conference, Collective Security in Space: Asian Perspectives on Acceptable Approaches sponsored by the Space Policy Institute, Center for Nonproliferation Studies and the Research Institute for Peace and Security. I was having breakfast…

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Extend START

Jennifer Mackby and Edward Ifft remind us that START is set to expire and that letting START expire would suck: The crowning international security agreement that reduced and stabilized nuclear forces in the former Soviet Union and the United States…

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What About the OTHER Bomb Factory?

Dafna Linzer helpfully confirms that the IC is sticking with its 2015 estimate for an Iranian bomb, noting that Iran still cannot operate continuously its cascades of centrifuges: “The whole game for the Iranians is to present a fait accompli,”…

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1,300 Centrifuges at the FEP

Ah, the mighty “told you so.” Paul and moi expressed skepticism last week that Iran had 3,000 centrifuges, sticking with the six cascades (984) reported at the end of March plus one or more 164-machine cascades after. Now, Paul points…

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More Nuclear Terrorism

Mike Levi and Graham Allison are having a little throwdown over “How Likely is a Nuclear Terrorist Attack on the United States?” on the CFR website. Oddly, both agree that the stated topic of discussion—the probability of an attack—is irrelevant:…