Avatar photoBolton Out?

John Bolton appears to be leaving for the private sector now that my old boss, Bob Zoellick, will be nominated as Deputy Secretary of State. (Yes, I worked a bit for Zoellick at CSIS. We didn’t really click, as you might imagine.) Don’t get all excited, though. Reuter’s reports that Space-based Bob Joseph is in …

Avatar photoNSPD 28: Nuclear Weapons Command, Control, Safety, and Security

I think that I’ve discovered a previously undisclosed National Security Presidential Directive (NSPD) relating to nuclear weapons. Moreover, I worry that it lays the groundwork to build new nuclear weapons and resume nuclear testing. The source? National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA) Policy Planning Director John Harvey’s biography! Prepared for a recent CISAC conference, Harvey’s biography …

Avatar photoHair Trigger in Space

Adam Herbert, a senior editor at AFA Magazine, writes that Air Force Space Command is attempting to install a hair trigger in outer space: Over the years, space essentially has been a militarily benign environment. For that reason, operators had come to assume that failures were the result of equipment malfunctions – not the deliberate …

Avatar photoBack From London

I am back from London—where the steadily escalating death toll from the Asian tsunami added a somber note to the festivities. Regular postings will resume tomorrow morning. There will be no end to the ration of crap I am going to give Paul for not managing a single posting in my absence. In all fairness, …