Sir Michael Quinlan (1930—2009)
It was with genuine and deep sadness that I learnt yesterday of the death of Sir Michael Quinlan, aged 78, on Thursday. In a career within the UK civil service that spanned 40 years, Sir Michael served in a variety…
February 2009
30 posts
Presidential Policy Directives
It’s out! We now know that the Obama NSC has named it’s National Security Council-related directives Presidential Policy Directives or PPDs — thanks to Steve Aftergood who has posted a copy of PPD-1. I am mildly obsessed by this topic…
Debating Disarmament
Last September, George Perkovich and I published an Adelphi Paper, Abolishing Nuclear Weapons, which attempted to identify the challenges of getting to zero and how they might be overcome. Most of all, however, it called for serious international debate on…
Unha/Taepodong Test Imminent
Pollack the Wit — no relation to Joe — links to KCNA’s announcement that “preparations for launching experimental communications satellite Kwangmyongsong-2 by means of delivery rocket Unha-2 are now making brisk headway …” I observe no references, prior to February…
For Satellites, Danger Lurks at the Poles
Average probability of some (any) operational satellite at a give altitude being hit by something, either a piece of space debris, rocket body, or another satellite each year. This was calculated using a flux of space objects with diameters greater…
Nine Cascades In Vacuum
I wanted to talk about Joby Warrick’s story, Iran Easing Aspects Of Nuclear Program, Report Cites Lag at Centrifuge Facility. A senior UN official told journalists that Iran has slowed installation of a second module of 3,000 centrifuges: “The pace…
Safeguards in Iran. And Elsewhere.
Partial schematic of Iran’s planned fuel cycle, once facilities currently under construction have been completed. I was travelling on Friday and got back to the internet to observe the aftermath of the s*!t storm over material accountancy in Iran. The…
A Correction
Yesterday, my cynicism got the better of me. I expressed doubt that anyone in the press compared the two IAEA reports, concluding that someone in either the IAEA or one of the missions was putting a little pressure on the…
Wohlstetter Event at Hudson
I failed to mention Bob Zarate is having an event for his Wohlstetter book at the Hudson Institute on Monday: The Nonproliferation Policy Education Center (NPEC) and Hudson Institute invite you to participate in a seminar panel presentation “Albert and…
212 and Counting
click on the image for a larger version The image on the left shows the positions of the space debris 30 minutes after the collision while the image on the right shows them roughly 10 days later (now, as I…