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Quote of the Day
The margin of safety is shrinking, not growing.
--FBI Director Robert Mueller, on terrorists' ability to gain access to WMD-related materials and technology.
Full Issue
Cost to Test U.S. Global-Strike Missile Could Reach $500 Million
Monday, March 15, 2010
The Pentagon could spend up to $500 million to flight-test the first conventional “prompt global strike” weapon, expected to use "hypersonic test vehicle" technology shown in the above diagram (U.S. Defense Department image).
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Defense Department could spend as much as a half-billion dollars to flight-test a new conventionally armed ballistic missile with a sophisticated capability to destroy targets virtually anywhere around the world, Global Security Newswire has learned (see GSN, July 1, 2009).
Obama administration officials are touting the emerging technology as a partial alternative to nuclear weapons. Conventional "prompt global strike" arms could be used against targets thousands of miles away that must be dealt with quickly, from al-Qaeda safe havens along the Pakistani-Afghan border or an impending North Korean nuclear-armed missile being readied for launch.
The only hitch is that the premier weapon system for the Pentagon's conventional prompt global strike mission -- the Air Force's Conventional Strike Missile -- is in the throes of cost hikes and management tangles that could complicate hopes for rapid fielding.
Debate Heats Up Over Conventional, Nuclear Deterrence Tradeoffs
Friday, March 19, 2010
U.S. Representative Michael Turner (R-Ohio). At a hearing this week, the lawmaker questioned assertions that the United States could increasingly rely on the deterrent capabilities of non-nuclear weapons (U.S. Representative Michael Turner photo).
WASHINGTON -- With an eye toward making good on U.S. President Barack Obama's nearly year-old pledge to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. national security, some of his top lieutenants have begun asserting that technological advances now allow greater reliance on conventional arms for strategic deterrence (see GSN, March 15).
However, the contention is already running into resistance on Capitol Hill and, to some extent, in the U.S. military.
"I'm very concerned [about] the trade-off between conventional and strategic weapons that do not play the same role as a deterrent," Representative Michael Turner (R-Ohio) said this week at a House subcommittee hearing.
State Department Looks to Revamp Arms Control Bureaus
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, shown yesterday, last month said the State Department would restructure its arms control offices to help advance President Barack Obama's nonproliferation goals (Mandel Ngan/Getty Images).
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. State Department has begun examining ways to strengthen its arms control bureaus in order to better implement President Barack Obama's nonproliferation agenda, according to Washington's top diplomat (see GSN, March 11).
Foggy Bottom is "undertaking a focused reorganization of the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation and the Bureau of Verification, Compliance, and Implementation," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrote in a Feb. 23 open letter to department staff and management.
"The goals of this reorganization are to realign the missions of the VCI and ISN bureaus to better leverage their support for key national security objectives and to create dedicated organizational advocates for (1) arms control and verification and compliance, and (2) nonproliferation," according to Clinton.
Nuke Review Further Delayed in U.S.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
A technician examines the nose cone of a U.S. B-61 Mod 11 nuclear gravity bomb. The United States has again delayed the release of a major nuclear weapons strategy review, an official said yesterday (U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration photo).
The Obama administration has further pushed back the planned release of a forthcoming U.S. nuclear weapons policy review to permit further consideration of the document's content, a U.S. Defense Department official told lawmakers Tuesday (see GSN, March 8).
The pending Nuclear Posture Review would be unveiled within one month, Principal Deputy Defense Undersecretary James Miller said. The report was originally slated for publication last December, then pushed back to March 1 and then delayed again (see GSN, Jan. 6).
“The Nuclear Posture Review will be a foundational document for this administration,” Miller told a House Armed Services Committee panel.
Clinton Discusses New START Deal in Russia
Thursday, March 18, 2010
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at a press conference following talks in Moscow today. The officials said their governments were nearing agreement on a deal that would replace a Cold War-era nuclear arms control pact (Yuri Kadobnov/Getty Images).
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov today to discuss ongoing negotiations on a deal to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, March 17).
"We are making substantial progress on the new START treaty, that's the word from our negotiators in Geneva," Clinton said following the discussion. "The results of the latest negotiation rounds lead us to believe we'll be reaching a final agreement soon."
Lavrov added: "We are at the end of the final straight and we hope that very soon the negotiators will announce that their work has been completed."
U.S. General Sees Slowdown in Iranian Nuclear-Weapon Work
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
U.S. Central Command head Gen. David Petraeus today said an Iranian effort to build a nuclear weapon has encountered delays (Mark Wilson/Getty Images).
There has been "a bit" of a slowdown in Iranian efforts to produce a nuclear bomb, the head of U.S. Central Command said today (see GSN, March 15).
Questioned by a Senate panel on the possible time line for Tehran to possess such a weapon, General David Petraeus said that "it has, thankfully, slid to the right a bit and it is not this calendar year, I don't think," Reuters reported.
Washington and other Western governments suspect Iran's nuclear program is geared toward weapons development, but Tehran has maintained that the effort is strictly peaceful in nature.
North Korea's Missile Stockpile Jumps to 1,000, South Says
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Mock North Korean Scud B missiles, displayed last year at a museum in Seoul. North Korea has expanded its missile arsenal by 25 percent in the last two years, South Korea indicated today (Kim Jae-hwan/Getty Images).
In the last two years, North Korea has increased the size of its estimated missile arsenal by 25 percent to 1,000 weapons, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-young asserted today (see GSN, March 9).
The North's cache of missiles includes intermediate-range ballistic missiles, Rodongs and Scuds, said a ministry spokeswoman to Agence France-Presse. In 2008, the agency believed that Pyongyang had 800 missiles.
A significant number of the missiles are fielded close to the two nations' border and are aimed at Seoul and other sites within South Korea, officials have said.
Al-Qaeda Still Pursuing WMD, FBI Chief Says
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Pakistani troops pass earlier this month through a cave complex once frequented by militants in northwestern Pakistan. Al-Qaeda remains intent on obtaining weapons of mass destruction, FBI chief Robert Mueller said (A. Majeed/Getty Images).
The terrorist organization al-Qaeda has not ceased its efforts to acquire a nuclear bomb or other unconventional weapons to use in a strike against the United States, FBI Director Robert Mueller told lawmakers yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 16).
"Al-Qaeda remains committed to its goal of conducting attacks inside the United States," Mueller warned a House Appropriations subcommittee, according to Newsmax. "Further, al-Qaeda’s continued efforts to access chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear material pose a serious threat to the United States."
Mueller noted that a 2008 National Intelligence Estimate "concluded that it remains the intent of terrorist adversaries to seek the means and capability to use WMD against the United States at home and abroad."
Regional Nuclear War Could Devastate World Population, Report Warns
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
A 1971 French nuclear test at Mururoa Atoll. Climatic changes caused by an Indian-Pakistani nuclear conflict could lead to the deaths of hundreds of millions of people, computer models suggest (Getty Images).
Computer modeling suggests a nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan would block out the sun with large amounts of airborne debris, disrupting global agriculture and leading to the starvation of around 1 billion people, Scientific American reported in its January issue (see GSN, March 4).
U.S. Carefully Considers Future of Nukes in Europe
Monday, March 15, 2010
A fighter jet takes off from Incirlik Air Force Base in Turkey, a site believed to store U.S. nuclear weapons (U.S. Air Force photo).
The Obama administration is proceeding with caution as it considers pulling all U.S. nuclear weapons from Europe, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, March 12).
While certain officials from Germany and other European nations are calling for removal of an estimated 200 Cold War-era nuclear arms from the continent, an imminent decision is not expected from Washington. It instead intends to weigh the matter within NATO, beginning with an April summit of foreign ministers including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, U.S. officials said.
NATO states Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Norway have succeeded in placing the issue on the agenda of the NATO meeting in Estonia next month.