Years · 2008

January 2008

24 posts

Article

Get a whiff of this!

Yesterday’s Global Security Newswire has a hilarious story about a Laboratory Preparedness Survey in 2007 (an exercise in which labs are required to identify an unknown pathogen). Obviously, it’s funny for all the wrong reasons. Here’s a taster (or should…

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Analyzing NORK U

Jeffrey set me a challenge by last week. Before outlining it and my answer, some background might be in order first… As he outlined in a recent post, in their November draft declaration, the North Koreans continued to deny the…

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US Spinning Libyan Centrifuges

Uh, well, no Mr. President, you see, it isn’t exactly like a Sit-N-Spin … Frank Munger has great stuff on his blog again. I missed this but, in September 2005, Y-12 General Manager Dennis Ruddy told reporters that the United…

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USA 193 Comes Down

© John Locker AP’s Eileen Sullivan quotes government officials stating that a US spy satellite “has lost power and could hit the Earth in late February or early March…” The satellite, which no longer can be controlled, could contain hazardous…

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It's Official, Wolfie Is Back

In December, I noted a story by Michael Isikoff in Newsweek that Condoleeza Rice would name Paul Wolfowitz to chair the State Department’s International Security Advisory Board. Well, it is official. (Bloomberg News has a nice exposition with a money…

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Brown on disarmament

Ever since then British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett got sacked a day or two after making a speech on disarmament at last year’s Carnegie Conference, British officials have been at pains to point out that the two events were entirely…

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Albright and Shire on Disblement, Box

David Albright and Jackie Shirer have a really excellent op-ed in the Washington Post arguing that North Korea has significantly met its commitments to disable its plutonium production facilities and declare past nuclear activities. (For recent blog posts on disablement…

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Preemptive Nukes in NATO?

Five retired military strategists from key NATO countries — including Gen. John Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs under Pres. Clinton and former NATO commander — have authored a manifesto on NATO’s future saying among other things that: The first…

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No Policy Review on Six Party Talks

A couple of days ago, U.S. Special Envoy for Human Rights in North Korea Jay Lefkowitz falsely claimed that the Administration was reviewing its support for the Six Party talks, announcing that “It is appropriate now to reevaluate – to…

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What should we do with NORK Pu?

This is a question that was discussed at a couple of meetings I attended last year. In the short-term, the objective is of course to get plutonium out of the reactor and into wet storage ASAP. Presumably, however, the US…