Yesterday, I started to present a framework to think about how proliferators get the know-how and industrial infrastructure necessary to make weapons of mass destruction. This framework has proved very helpful to me in understanding various WMD programs. It becomes more predictive when combined with two competitive forces: the need for proliferators to minimize risk …
The Jackson Amendment
by | 2009-08-06 | 6 Comments
Sen. Henry M. “Scoop” Jackson was a tenacious, well-informed, defense-minded Democrat who played a central role in arms control debates during the 1960s and 1970s. He was a reliable vote for progressive domestic causes, and a deep skeptic of détente with the Soviet Union. Jackson favored missile defenses and was greatly concerned about trend lines …
O'Connor on the BOB
by | 2009-08-05 | 25 Comments
Sean O’Connor, whose excellent IMINT and Analysis blog was recently on hiatus, sent along his thoughts on the Box o’ Burma, aka The BOB: Recent revelations in Sydney Morning Herald and Yale Global Online (Part I and Part II) have begun to shed more light on the potential nuclear ambitions of Burma. While it is …
J-Bolt Wants Israel to Disarm
by | 2009-08-05 | 9 Comments
Steve Clemons made a very funny observation the other day after Jon Stewart got John Bolton to say “I only want one government to have nuclear weapons … You’re sitting in it.” What about Israel? Given [Bolton’s] typical lawyerly shrewdness that I have come to expect and never underestimate, I was stunned when he abandoned …
