Senate Democrats Push for Arms Control Language in Defense Policy Bill
Rebecca Kheel | The Hill
Eighteen Senate Democrats are pushing for three arms control provisions to make it into the final version of the annual defense policy bill. The Democrats, led by 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), penned a letter to the leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee pushing for the inclusion of provisions that would block a low-yield nuclear warhead, urge the Trump administration to extend the New START Treaty and deny funding for intermediate-range missiles. All three provisions were included in the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), but are fiercely opposed by Senate Republicans and the White House. The White House has threatened to veto the House version of the bill, in part citing the provisions on the low-yield warhead and intermediate-range missiles.
Pentagon Terminates Program for Redesigned Kill-Vehicle, Preps for New Competition
Jen Judson | Defense News
The Pentagon has moved from taking a “strategic pause” on the Redesigned Kill Vehicle program to outright killing it. The Department of Defense decided to terminate the current Boeing contract to develop the RKV — effective Aug. 22 — “due to technical design problems,” according to an Aug. 21 statement by the department. Raytheon is the actual developer of the RKV and serves as a sub-contractor to Boeing. The RKV would have replaced the current Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV) on the Ground-Based Interceptor, which makes up the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system designed to protect the homeland from ballistic missile threats. Now that the RKV is dead in the water, the Pentagon plans to move forward with a new, next-generation interceptor competition, the statement said.
South Korea Says It Will Scrap Intelligence-Sharing Deal With Japan
Choe Sang-Hun and Motoko Rich | New York Times
South Korea said on Thursday that it would abandon a military intelligence-sharing pact with Japan, a move that dramatically escalates tensions between the two countries and offers the latest evidence of the United States’ declining presence in the region. The South Korean decision on the security agreement — a pact the United States had pushed in part to ensure tight monitoring of North Korea’s missile activity — had been awaited as a barometer of relations between Seoul and Japan, America’s two closest Asian allies. Those ties had reached their lowest point in years after Tokyo imposed a series of trade restrictions earlier this month targeting South Korea’s major exports. Seoul responded by removing Japan from a list of trusted trade partners.
Iran Ready to Work on French Nuclear Deal Proposals, Does Not Want War: Foreign Minister
Reuters
Iran is prepared to work on French proposals to salvage the international nuclear deal that Tehran signed with world powers in 2015 but it will not tolerate U.S. interference in the Gulf, its foreign minister said on Thursday. At a time of heightened friction between Tehran and Washington, Iran also on Thursday displayed what it described as a domestically built long-range, surface-to-air missile air defense system. In an effort to prop up the agreement, French President Emmanuel Macron offered on Wednesday to either soften sanctions on Iran or provide a compensation mechanism “to enable the Iranian people to live better” in return for full compliance with the pact. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, speaking at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, said he was looking forward to having a serious conversation with Macron in Paris on Friday.
Top Security Official Says U.S.-N.K. Talks May Resume Soon After Talks With Biegun
Song Sang-ho | Yonhap News Agency
South Korean Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Hyun-chong said Thursday that he got an “impression” from his talks with the top U.S. envoy on North Korea that nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang may resume soon. Kim met U.S. Special Representative Stephen Biegun hours after the North said it has no interest in dialogue as long as the allies keep up military threats against it in an angry reaction to the delivery this week of more F-35A stealth fighters to the South. “The impression that I got (from the talks with Biegun) was that the dialogue between the North and the U.S. appears likely to unfold soon,” Kim told reporters after the hourlong meeting. He did not go into detail about how he got the impression. On Wednesday, Biegun said the United States is ready to resume working-level talks with the North “as soon as we hear from our counterparts” in the North in a renewed call for the regime to come out for dialogue.
2019 Adherence to and Compliance With Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament Agreements and Commitments
U.S. Department of State
This Report addresses U.S. compliance with and adherence to arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament agreements and commitments (Part I), other States’ compliance with and adherence to arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament agreements and commitments pertaining to nuclear issues (Part II), other States’ adherence to missile commitments and assurances (Part III), and other States’ compliance with and adherence to arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament agreements and commitments pertaining to chemical issues (Part IV), biological issues (Part V), and conventional issues (Part VI).