India’s Quest for NSG Membership
Mark Hibbs
A road map for admitting India into the NSG began to emerge six years ago. The United States announced it wanted India in, and thereafter led the way in setting up an internal “structured dialogue” toward that end. Washington anticipated that within a few years the matter would be agreed to by consensus—as had been India’s “singular exception” to the NSG guidelines in 2008.
S. Korea, U.S. Reach Decision to Deploy THAAD Defense System in Korea
Yonhap News
South Korea and the United States have agreed to deploy a high-tech antiballistic-missile interception system in the Northeast Asian country to upgrade the allies' defense against North Korea's increasing nuclear and missile threats, the defense ministry said Friday. The decision came after five months of negotiations between Seoul and Washington over whether to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, an advanced air defense shield that makes up the U.S.' mainland missile defense system.
North Korea Still Faces Significant Challenges in Developing a Sea-Launched Missile: Expert
38 North
North Korea conducted what appeared to be another test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) off the east coast on Saturday, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff and a report by Seoul’s Yonhap News Agency. The missile was reportedly fired from Sinpo, South Hamgyong Province, at around 11:30 a.m. KST. The test came one day after the US and South Korea announced an agreement on the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system. An operational sea-launched missile, because it could be launched from different areas around the peninsula, would be one approach to overcome such a defense.
Obama Plans Major Nuclear Policy Changes in His Final Months
Josh Rogin | Washington Post
The Obama administration is determined to use its final six months in office to take a series of executive actions to advance the nuclear agenda the president has advocated since his college days. It’s part of Obama’s late push to polish a foreign policy legacy that is plagued by challenges on several other fronts.
A Test of America's Homeland Missile Defense System Found a Problem. Why Did the Pentagon Call It a Success?
David Willman | Los Angeles Times
If North Korea ever unleashed nuclear-armed missiles against America, the defense of U.S. cities and towns would depend to no small degree on something called a divert thruster. These small rocket motors would be counted on to keep U.S. anti-missile interceptors on target as they hurtled through space toward the incoming warheads.
Theresa May's First Job: Decide on U.K.'s Nuclear Response
Richard Norton-Taylor | Guardian
One of the first tasks to confront a new prime minister, after an audience with the Queen, is to write “the letter of last resort”. If past practice is observed, Theresa May will be asked to write to (unnamed) commanders of a Trident missile submarine on patrol in the Atlantic. The letter will tell them whether or not, after a devastating attack on Britain, she (by this point either dead, or uncontactable) would be willing to retaliate by firing a nuclear missile.