Second Trump-Kim Summit to go Ahead Without List of Nuclear North Korean weapons, Pence Says
Vaughn Hillyard | NBC News
The U.S. will not require North Korea to provide a complete list of its nuclear weapons and missile sites before President Donald Trump and the North's leader Kim Jong Un meet for a second time, Vice President Mike Pence told NBC News exclusively on Thursday. Since an initial agreement for denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula was reached between Trump and Kim in June, the United States has pressed the North Koreans to provide information on the entirety of its nuclear operations.
Smith Aims to Scrap Trump’s Nuclear Weapons Policy
Joe Gould | Defense News
Rep. Adam Smith — set to become the next chairman of the House Armed Services Committee in the new Congress — and other Democratic lawmakers said Wednesday they hope to use their party’s takeover of the House to check the Trump administration’s expansive policies toward nuclear weapons.
Reprocessing Ceases at UK’s Thorp Plant
World Nuclear News
Reprocessing operations have ended at the Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (Thorp) at the Sellafield site in the UK after 24 years. The facility will now be used to store used nuclear fuel until the 2070s.
Bolton Says Iran will be Squeezed ‘Until the Pups Squeak’
Jason Koutsoukis and Ladane Nasseri | Bloomberg
The U.S. intends to double down on sanctioning Iran, pressuring the nation until it submits, National Security Adviser John Bolton signaled on Tuesday. “We think the government is under real pressure and it’s our intention to squeeze them very hard,” Bolton said Tuesday in Singapore. “As the British say, ‘squeeze them until the pips squeak’.”
Pentagon to Boost Laser Investments for Missile Defense
Aaron Mehta | Defense News
The U.S. Defense Department is planning to increase investments in directed-energy systems used for missile defense over the next several budget cycles, according to the department’s top technology adviser. Michael Griffin, undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, said Tuesday he expects to have usable directed-energy weaponry in the hands of war fighters in “no more than a few years,” but acknowledged the size of a system usable for missile defense requires greater investment.
Chinese Missiles Would Violate International Nuclear Arms Treaty – NATO Chief
South China Morning Post
“We see that China is investing heavily in new, modern weapons, including new missiles,” Stoltenberg said on German ZDF public television on Tuesday, according to the German translation. “And half of their missiles would violate the INF treaty if China were a signatory,” he said, referring to the 1987 nuclear weapons control accord that US President Donald Trump last month threatened to quit. Stoltenberg added: “We support expanding this treaty so that China is also bound by it.”