Avatar photoEgyptian Nuclear Experiments: The Peter Principle

Not the only source of riddles along the Nile. In an effort to placate Dr. Lewis, I am back to blog—at least until I go to Utah this weekend. Recalling that it’s easier to tear down something than to build it, I then had only to find a target … fortunately, the Heritage Foundation is …

Avatar photoPBD 753: Cutting Missile Defense

Program Budget Decision (PBD) 753 is a 26-page memorandum dated December 23. Marked “For Official Use Only: Unauthorized Release of the Following Program Budget Decision is Prohibited,” the document appeared in the press about two weeks later. PBD 753 outlines a large reduction in the Defense Budget—$6 billion in 2006 and $30 billion through 2011. …

Avatar photoOPLAN 8044

Hans Kristensen notes that the STRATCOM has changed the name of the Single Integrated Operational Plan—the nation’s nuclear war plan—to the less catchy OPLAN 8044. The reasoning? Rather than being a single operational plan, the SIOP is now “a collection of far more differentiated retaliatory choices, tailored to a threat environment of greater nuance and …

Avatar photoDimona Revealed

Well, first Israel’s Atomic Energy Commission opened a website. Now, Israel’s censors have permitted Channel 10 to air a 14-minute video depicting wide-angle shots of Dimona (like the photograph at right), “including buses bringing staff to the site, well-ordered lines waiting to use a cash machine and a leisurely soccer game nearby.” Get the feeling …