Sejil Significance
I’ve been asked to try to express the significance of the Sejil launch. At first, I was given a choice for what was the most significant aspect, from a technical point of view: -The staging? -The fact that it was…
2009
377 posts
Herbert F. York (1921-2009)
We’ve lost Herb York. Herbert Frank York, founding chancellor of the University of California, San Diego and a world-renowned physicist who helped develop the atomic bomb as a young researcher and later championed arms control, died May 19 at Thornton…
The Year of the Rocket
Rocket Country Date Propellant Stages Purpose Note Kavoshgar Iran 4 Feb 08 Liquid 1 unknown successful Safir Iran 17 Aug 08 liquid 2 satellite launch failed during 2nd stage Sajil Iran 13 Nov 08 Solid 1 or 2 Solid propel.…
Morning Joe
Joe Cirincione has a blog, which is good. He also tweets which is great. I am addicted to his morning news summary, Morning Joe.
Kissinger on Offense/Defense Mix
Another entry from Michael Krepon’s shoebox, this one from Henry Kissinger — in his days as an academic — on the right mix of offensive and defensive strategic forces: The tensions between strategic offenses and defenses has been a constant…
DPRK: Why did the 2006 launch fail?
click on the image for a larger version The reconstructed flight path angle and the fitted pitch program are shown as a function of time after launch. The flight path angle is found using the fitted trajectory to provide a…
2009/2010 College Debate Topic
The 2009/2010 College Debate Topic is about nuclear weapons. The United States should decrease its reliance on nuclear weapons. I was asked for reading suggestions. Mine are: (1) John Steinbruner, Managing Deterrent Operations, Chapter 2 of Principles of Global Security…
Chilton Repeats the Vacuum Tube Myth
Global Security Newswire’s Elaine Grossman asked STRATCOM Command General Kevin Chilton about the Bulletin article in which Kingston Reif and I called him out for his misleading claim that the RRW program is needed to remove vacuum tubes from the…
North Korea's Next Steps
I was struggling with what to say about the increasingly dire situation in North Korea, when I discovered that Sig Hecker did it for me in the Bulletin: In summary, North Korea is capable of carrying out its threat to…
NCPC Site & 721 Report
The DNI National Counterproliferation Center (NPC) has a spiffy new website with several documents including — drumroll — the 2008 721 Report.