We are deeply saddened to hear of Catherine McArdle Kelleher’s passing. Catherine was a trailblazing woman in national security, as both a government official and scholar. She served as a deputy assistant secretary of defense, was founding director of the Center for International & Security Studies at the University of Maryland, and authored Germany and the Politics of Nuclear Weapons. She was also wise, kind, and generous, and a mentor to many, especially young women pursuing careers in security.
Reducing Strategic Risks of Advanced Computing Technologies
Lindsay Rand | Arms Control Today
In the past few years, U.S. policymakers have struggled to craft policies that embrace the benefits of advanced computing technologies and enable competitive innovation while mitigating risks from their widespread applications. Even as a U.S.-Chinese technology competition looms, policymakers must recognize the arms-racing risks to strategic stability and pursue policies, even if unilateral, to resolve the ambiguity around computing technologies that are deployed in strategic settings.
Norway’s Intelligence Warns of Russian Nuclear Deterrent, but Underlines no Tactical Nukes on Surface Warships
Thomas Nilsen | The Barents Observer
The Barents Observer, along with other media like Newsweek and Politico, earlier this week reported about the FOKUS report, an annual threat assessment, hinting that Russia’s Northern Fleet subs and surface warships again could be sailing with tactical nuclear weapons onboard. If true, that would have been a dramatic change in policy by Russia which officially brought its arsenal of naval tactical nukes to onshore storage as part of a gentlemen’s agreement between Mikael Gorbachev and George Bush back in 1991. “There was room for different interpretations of the text,” says spokesperson with the Intelligence Service Ann-Kristin Bjergene to the Barents Observer.
Seoul Estimates North Korea has Processed More Plutonium for Nukes
Jeongmin Kim | NK News
North Korea has likely increased its stockpile of plutonium for nuclear weapons, according to South Korea’s new defense white paper, the first time Seoul has reported an increase in six years. The report released Thursday states Pyongyang has around 70 kg of the fissile material as of Dec. 2022, up from the previous white paper’s estimate of 50 kg in 2020 and reportedly enough for around a dozen nuclear warheads. But an expert cautioned that the new estimate doesn’t necessarily mean that the DPRK processed 20 kg of plutonium in just the last two years, pointing to problems with how the previous Moon administration calculated the North’s stockpiles as it pursued diplomacy with Pyongyang.
EU Commission Scratches Russia Nuclear Sanctions Plans
LEONIE KIJEWSKI AND JACOPO BARIGAZZI | Politico
The European Commission has abandoned plans to sanction Russia's nuclear sector or its representatives in its next sanctions package, three diplomats told POLITICO on Thursday. The EU executive initially told EU countries that it would try to draw up sanctions targeting Russia's civil nuclear sector. And, ahead of a meeting of EU leaders last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the bloc at least to issue sanctions against Russian nuclear energy company Rosatom. But that plan has failed, the three diplomats said, pointing to the latest sanctions drafts.
Australian Greens Press Labor Over Nuclear Weapons, as AUKUS Decision Looms
Colin Clark | Breaking Defense
With an announcement on the way forward for Australia’s nuclear submarine “imminent,” a Tuesday senate hearing provided a reminder that nuclear weapons remain a touchy subject among the Australian public and its politicians. During the hearing, Foreign Minister Penny Wong and the Department of Defense’s secretary, Greg Moriarty, took fire from members of the Green Party over the question of whether American B-52s have been bringing nuclear weapons to Australian soil when the decade-old planes land in the Lucky Country. B-52s are expected to periodically visit Tindal Air Base in the country’s north, where the US has committed funding to improve the facilities. It’s the first time the issue of US nuclear weapons in Australia has been raised publicly under this government.
China, Iran Call for Iran Sanctions to be Lifted; Xi to Visit
Reuters
China's President Xi Jinping and his Iranian counterpart, Ebrahim Raisi, called on Thursday for the lifting of sanctions on Iran as an integral part of a stalled international agreement on its nuclear programme…The leaders in their statement called for the implementation of the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, under which Iran agreed with several countries, including the United States, to curb its nuclear programme in return for economic sanctions relief.