Iran Nuclear Talks With World Powers to Resume on Thursday – Reports
Reuters
Indirect U.S.-Iranian talks on saving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal will resume on Thursday in Vienna, Iranian news agencies reported on Tuesday. “We will continue the talks on Thursday ... and await practical steps by the West,” Iran’s top negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani was quoted as telling Iranian media during a visit to Moscow by the semi-official news agency ISNA.
CIA Chief Says Intelligence Agencies Haven’t Concluded Russia Will Invade Ukraine
Warren P. Strobel | Wall Street Journal
U.S. intelligence agencies haven’t concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin will invade Ukraine, but he has assembled military forces that “could act in a very sweeping way” and may see an opportunity to move this winter, CIA Director William Burns said Monday. “I would never underestimate President Putin’s risk appetite on Ukraine,” Mr. Burns said at The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit. He noted remarks Mr. Putin has made that Moscow should have significant influence over Ukraine, a neighbor.
With North Korea’s Kim Snubbing Talks, Seoul Kindles ‘Long Shot’ Bid for Pope Francis to Help
Michelle Ye Hee Lee and Chico Harlan | Washington Post
With attempts to restart nuclear negotiations with North Korea going nowhere, the president of South Korea is looking anywhere for help as his term heads into its final stretch. His long-shot hope: that Pope Francis can step in. Allies of Moon Jae-in acknowledge that direct papal intervention is unlikely. Francis has said nothing about the notion of going to Pyongyang, but he was quoted by the Blue House — the South Korean presidential palace — as being willing to go, in the name of peace, “if he received an invitation” from Kim Jong Un’s government.
Austin Warns Against Over-Hyping Recent Chinese Weapons Tests
Marcus Weisgerber and Tara Copp | Defense One
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin cautioned national security leaders and industry executives against over-hyping recent Chinese weapons tests—but also called for deeper ties between the Pentagon and large and small technology companies to counter China. In a Saturday speech titled “The China Challenge” at the 2021 Reagan National Defense Forum, a gathering of defense leaders, lawmakers, and private industry executives here, Austin said China’s recent hypersonic launch and its gains in nuclear weapons, cyber, and space should be met “with confidence and resolve—not panic and pessimism.”
Pentagon Tester to Restrict Info on Weapons Programs, Raising Transparency Concerns
Valerie Insinna | Breaking Defense
Every January, defense acquisition geeks receive a gift in the form of the annual report by the Pentagon’s independent weapons tester. This dense, detailed report is sometimes the best view experts and reporters get into the technical problems a weapons program may be facing, whether that’s an F-35 gun that can’t shoot straight or safety concerns about the president’s new helicopter. But next year, the Pentagon’s office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation will issue two different versions of the 2021 report: An unclassified version that will be available to the public, and a version with “controlled unclassified information” (CUI) that will only be made available to lawmakers and those inside the department, according to Raymond O’Toole, acting head of the DOT&E office.
US Missile Defense Agency Declares Initial Delivery of Long-Range Discrimination Radar in Alaska
Jen Judson | Defense News
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency has finished installing radar arrays and wrapped up military construction for the Long-Range Discrimination Radar (LRDR). The agency held a Dec. 6 ceremony at the radar’s location at Clear Air Force Station, Alaska, declaring the initial fielding of the radar. Now that MDA has completed construction, it will integrate the radar into the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense system (GMD) and the Command and Control, Battle Management and Communications (C2BMC) system during 2022 in preparation for formal operational acceptance by the U.S. Air Force in 2023, MDA Director Vice Adm. Jon Hill told reporters in a briefing following the ceremony.