North Korea has issued a statement on why it slowed disablement and the hangup with the declaration. The explanation for the slowdown — North Korea is slowing the unloading of fuel rods from Yongbyon, presumably to take the entire 100 days — is technically plausible and exactly what I surmised last week. It is not …
NORKs Miss Deadline, Slow Disablement
by | 2007-12-31 | 8 Comments
As expected, North Korea missed the deadline for “providing a complete and correct declaration of its nuclear programs.” I say “as expected” in part because this is what Chris Hill told Congress in a closed briefing, according to Chris Nelson, and what South Korea’s Foreign Minister has said publicly. At issue, as we have long …
Spy Story Pure Crap
by | 2007-12-29 | 6 Comments
Hey, remember that front page Washington Times story by Bill Gertz reporting that “China’s intelligence service gained access to a secret National Security Agency listening post in Hawaii through a Chinese-language translation service”? Well, according to Chris Nelson, DoD officials who have read the investigation documents are calling the story “patently false” and “pure crap.” …
Life After the RRW & Virtual Swords
by | 2007-12-28 | 13 Comments
Shortly before I left for the holidays, Congressional Appropriators provided “no funds for the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW)” pending “a new strategic nuclear deterrent mission assessment for the 21st century.” The bottom line — no new warheads without a new posture — appears to command bipartisan support among the appropriators. The RRW is, for all …
