Really? We’re Gonna Nuke Russia for a Cyberattack?
George Perkovich | Politico
The front page of Tuesday’s New York Times contained an alarming headline: “Pentagon Suggests Countering Devastating Cyberattacks With Nuclear Arms.” The article, by David Sanger and William Broad, reported on a leaked draft of the Trump administration’s Nuclear Posture Review, which determines what the role of nuclear weapons should be. This draft departs from previous posture reviews by broadening the range of attacks that could trigger a massive U.S. retaliation, including with nuclear weapons.
U.S., European Officials to Meet on Iran Nuclear Deal
Felicia Schwartz | Wall Street Journal
The U.S. and three European countries will begin formal talks as early as next week on what the Trump administration considers flaws in the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, but Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said they might not meet a White House deadline for a fix. President Donald Trump said earlier this month he wouldn’t renew U.S. sanctions relief to Iran in May, as required under the nuclear accord, unless Europe goes along by then with a supplemental agreement to restrict Iranian missile testing and development.
Reading G20 Reactions to the Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty
Thu-An Pham
On October 6, 2017, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)—a young and relatively little-known civil society organization. The Norwegian Nobel Committee selected ICAN as the recipient of the prize, in part, for the campaign’s “ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of [nuclear] weapons.” The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was concluded in July 2017, when 122 countries voted to approve it. Currently, fifty-six states have signed the treaty, and Guyana, the Holy See, and Thailand have ratified it.
Most Americans Don’t Trust President Trump With the ‘Nuclear Button’
Emily Guskin | Washington Post
About half of Americans are concerned that President Trump might launch a nuclear attack without justification, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. This worry comes as Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un continue to provoke each other on Twitter and follows a previous Post-ABC poll that found a large majority of Americans are concerned about the United States going to war with North Korea.
Evacuees Take Cover at 1st Ballistic Missile Drill in Tokyo
Asahi Shimbun
At the first evacuation drill in central Tokyo to help prepare for a potential ballistic missile attack on Jan. 22, several dozen protesters turned up to mar the proceedings. The drill began shortly after 10 a.m. in Bunkyo Ward, and about 100 local residents and office workers evacuated to the basement of the ward government building.
Strengthening Checks on Presidential Nuclear Launch Authority
Bruce Blair | Arms Control Association
U.S. nuclear launch protocol has important virtues and serious liabilities. Major changes are needed to constrain a president who would seek to initiate the first use of nuclear weapons without apparent cause and to prevent him or her from being pushed into making nuclear retaliatory decisions in haste.The virtues of the protocol—the procedures and timelines for ordering the use of nuclear weapons and for carrying out such an order—are twofold. First, it concentrates launch authority at the highest level of the executive branch, the presidency, taking it out of the hands of the military and others. This is a function of paramount importance. The principle of civilian control over weapons of mass destruction must never be compromised. Together with the imposition of organizational and technical safeguards on the weapons and their handlers, the protocol elevates the locus of launch capability, as well as of launch authority, to the highest practical level.