Russian Strategic Forces Blog
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.
Arms Control Wonk
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Deutch on the US Nuclear Arsenal
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…
Egyptian Nuclear Experiments: The Peter Principle
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…
PBD 753: Cutting Missile Defense
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…
OPLAN 8044
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…
Dimona Revealed
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…
Rating ElBaradei
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…
Fun with Torture
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…
Bolton to Replace Libby?
Yeah, you read that correctly. This is my least favorite Washington rumor right now. The Nelson Report cannot confirm it—or the nightmare scenario of Bolton as Cheney’s Chief of Staff, Libby as DepSecDef and Wolfowitz as UN Ambassador.
CTR Funding Restored and a little Administrivia
A proposal to cut $46 million from Cooperative Threat Reduction programs in the FY 2006 budget has been reversed. CTR will, instead, enjoy a $5 M increase in FY 2005. Or that is what I hear from contractors. [The Boston…