The last serious debate over ASAT testing occurred in the 1980s. In addition to advocating the Strategic Defense Initiative, Reagan administration officials pushed for the testing of a kinetic energy ASAT system employing the Air Force’s F-15 as a launch vehicle (above). The Soviet Union had previously tested, with decidedly mixed results, a co-orbital interceptor …
Nuclear Warfare
by | 2009-08-27 | 24 Comments
By no means do I wish to pick on Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, who was only repeating a common misconception in an NPR segment this evening when she said: On June 7, 1981, Israel launched the first confirmed military strike ever against a nuclear site. Actually, it wasn’t even the first military strike against that particular facility. …
Persbo & Hibbs on ElBaradei
by | 2009-08-26 | 14 Comments
Six bucks or not, Andreas Persbo and Mark Hibbs have a must read profile of outgoing IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists: The IAEA after ElBaradei. As ElBaradei’s tenure reaches its close, a deep and troubling divide has opened up on the IAEA Board of Governors between advanced nuclear states, including …
START Follow On Sessions
by | 2009-08-25 | 2 Comments
I keep hearing that there have been four rounds of START Follow On negotiations — but that omits two Presidential Summits, a meeting between lead negotiators in Rome and at least two “experts” meetings. So I’ve tried to collect all of the START Follow On related meetings here, with dates and locations. Corrections and/or additions …
