I was planing a little summary of Syria’s nuclear program. Mark Hibbs, however, beats me to the punch in Syria, IAEA ignore US media reports that Israel attacked nuclear site (it will be posted eventually, subscription only): Officials at the conference suggested that US media reports asserting that Israel had attacked a phosphate production site …
Fire Resistant Pits
by | 2007-09-24 | 11 Comments
Scott Sagan observes that the W80 warhead — you know the type accidentally transported from Minot to Barksdale — doesn’t have a fire-resistant pit (FRP). Why does that matter? Well, this is an old discussion, but when an aircraft carrying nuclear weapons have crashed, they’ve spread plutonium creating a nasty, if very localized, clean-up issue. …
What Went Wrong At Minot
by | 2007-09-23 | 11 Comments
Joby Warrick and Walter Pincus have the scoop on how those six nuclear warheads went missing. One mistake at the beginning enabled a chain reaction that allowed the warheads to be out of custody for 36 hours: A munitions custodian officer is supposed to keep track of the nuclear warheads. In the case of cruise …
Syria-NORK Nuclear Cooperation
by | 2007-09-23 | 5 Comments
Though it has long sold its missile technology — to Syria, Iran, Pakistan and other customers — North Korea has never been known to export nuclear technology or material. Mark Mazzetti and David Sanger, “Israeli Raid on Syria Fuels Debate on Weapons,” The New York Times, September 22, 2007. Um, I guess I appreciate Mazzetti …
