Trilateral Arms Control? Perspectives from Washington, Moscow, and Beijing
Ulrich Kühn, Alexey Arbatov, David Santoro, and Tong Zhao | IFSH
With the end of the INF Treaty in 2019, trilateral arms control – meaning arms control between the United States, Russia, and China – has gained center stage. Only shortly after the U.S. withdrawal, U.S. President Trump declared that he wants a new nuclear pact to be signed by both Russia and China. Other U.S. administration officials have set the goal of including China in a future follow-on framework to the New START agreement, which expires in February 2021. However, could trilateral arms control be possible at all, and what would be necessary conditions?
IAEA Safeguards in North Korea: Possible Verification Roles and Mandates
John Carlson | 38 North
The starting point for any agreed process for reducing North Korea’s nuclear capabilities and associated infrastructure should be a freeze on the production of fissile material, followed by a commitment to permanently cease these activities and to disable and dismantle the facilities involved through a step-by-step process, with the ultimate objective of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. This process would include: application of safeguards to all peaceful nuclear activities; progressive rollback of the nuclear arsenal, with fissile materials transferred irreversibly to safeguarded peaceful use or disposal; and verification measures for possible undeclared nuclear activities. The advantage of this process is that confidence and trust can be built progressively in support of each succeeding step.
US Commander Sees No Unusual Activity Inside North Korea's Missile Forces
Yonhap News Agency
The United States has detected no unusual activity inside North Korea's missile forces since the outbreak of the new coronavirus, the commander of the U.S. Strategic Command said Tuesday. North Korea has yet to report a single case of COVID-19, but it is sandwiched between China, where the disease emerged in December, and South Korea, which has seen more than 8,000 infections. Gen. Robert Abrams, the commander of U.S. Forces Korea, told reporters Friday that "we're fairly certain" North Korea has cases. He also said the North's armed forces was on lockdown for about 30 days and only recently resumed routine training.
US Sanctions Iran, Seeks Release of Americans Amid Coronavirus Outbreak
Humeyra Pamuk and Arshad Mohammed | Reuters
The United States imposed fresh sanctions on Iran on Tuesday, keeping up its economic pressure campaign even as it offered to help Tehran cope with the coronavirus pandemic and called on the Islamic Republic to release detained Americans. Pompeo on Tuesday said the State Department is blacklisting nine entities based in South Africa, Hong Kong and China, as well as three Iranian individuals, for engaging in “significant transactions” to trade in Iranian petrochemicals. Separately, the Commerce Department said it will add six people - including five Iranian nuclear scientists - and 18 corporations to the U.S. “Entity List” for aiding Iran’s nuclear program, Pakistan’s unsafeguarded nuclear and missile programs, and Russian military modernization efforts.
Political Battle Brewing Over New Nuclear Program
Jon Harper | National Defense Magazine
The Trump administration’s proposal to begin work on a new nuclear warhead program to modernize the nation’s aging stockpile is expected to be hotly contested. For fiscal year 2021, President Donald Trump requested $28.9 billion for the Pentagon’s nuclear enterprise. He requested an additional $15.6 billion for efforts by the National Nuclear Security Administration, which manages the stockpile, including $53 million for NNSA work on a new warhead, dubbed the W93. Nuclear modernization programs, especially those related to warheads, have put Republicans and Democrats at loggerheads in the past. “This will be, I predict, the probably most contentious issue in this year’s defense authorization bill about modernizing the stockpile,” House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, said during recent remarks at the Brookings Institution.
BAE Nabs Next-Gen Seeker Design Work for US Army's Missile Defense System
Jen Judson | Defense News
Lockheed Martin, which builds the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense weapon system for the U.S. Army, has awarded BAE Systems a contract to design and manufacture a next-generation seeker for the system’s interceptors, according to a BAE announcement posted March 17. “The sensor design work will improve the missile defense system’s ability to neutralize more threats and improve its manufacturability,” the statement read. The company did not disclose the contract amount or timelines to develop a design. The THAAD weapon system is part of the Army’s layered approach to missile defense, now with its ability to defeat ballistic missile threats in the terminal phase of flight, but the Missile Defense Agency also wants to make it part of its future homeland defense architecture.