During my panel at the Wilson Center, David Albright told a story about how the Israelis talked to Gernot Zippe — inventor of the Zippe-centrifuge — about the contacts that some German scientists and firms had in Egypt. I wanted to shout “Hey, that’s the opening to The Odessa File!” So, with my admission of …
ALTB: The Long and Short
by | 2010-02-15 | 21 Comments
The February 11, 2010 test of the ALTB (the small, slightly horizontal blip on the right) against a target missile, the larger blip on the left. The target blip size is dominated by the exhaust plume.) On February 11th, 2010, the Air Force successfully tested its Airborne Laser Test Bed (the new name for what …
Consensus Emerges on Iran's Centrifuges
by | 2010-02-14 | 15 Comments
An announcement. (Sound of a fork tapping a glass.) Ladies and gentlemen — may I have your attention? Ladies and gentlemen, although there were no armistice talks, the SWU Wars have ended in a truce. The experts have reached a consensus, roughly speaking, about the actual separative power of Iran’s IR-1 gas centrifuges — the …
Gibbs Might Want Iran Statement Back
by | 2010-02-14 | 5 Comments
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, in the midst of a perfectly acceptable statement of Administration policy, cast doubt on Iran’s ability to enrich uranium: MR. GIBBS: Well, look, I think Iran has made a series of statements that are far more political than they are — they’re based on politics, not on physics. Okay? …
