Why Arms Control Is (Almost) Dead
Ulrich Kühn | Strategic Europe
Perhaps more than any other event in the following years, that day—December 7, 1988—marked the beginning of the end of the Cold War. In my new book, The Rise and Fall of Cooperative Arms Control in Europe, I make this day the culmination point from which the “golden age” of arms control would unfold. During the next ten years, an unbelievable number of cooperative security agreements and institutions would emerge. But today, most of these arrangements are defunct, abrogated, forgotten, or simply overtaken by political and technical events. Older agreements, among them the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (1972) and the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (1987), have been cancelled. Newer ones, such as the New START agreement of 2011, might soon cease to exist. Given this incredible list of diplomatic achievements, and the inability of the international community to uphold the principles of cooperative security, it is not an exaggeration to speak of the end of arms control.
Trump Picks Official Involved in Bush-Era Torture Program as his Nuclear Envoy
Julian Borger | Guardian
The Trump administration has chosen a special envoy for nuclear talks, with the principal task of negotiating a new arms control agreement with Russia and China, according to congressional sources and former officials. The proposed special negotiator, Marshall Billingslea, is currently the under-secretary for terrorist financing at the US Treasury. His nomination last year for a top human rights job at the state department was stalled by controversy over the extent of his involvement in the torture programme established by the George W Bush administration, in which he oversaw the conditions of detainees in Guantánamo Bay. The Trump administration has been trying to recruit a high-level arms control negotiator for several months, but several former Republican officials with significant experience in the field turned down the offer. Billingslea, who has a long record as a hawk on nuclear weapons issues, faces a daunting task. Donald Trump wants to negotiate a new agreement to reduce the vast nuclear weapons arsenals of the major powers, to replace the New Start deal with Russia agreed by Barack Obama.
Iran Says IAEA Case for Inspecting Sites Based on Fake Israeli Intel
Reuters
Iran on Thursday stood by its decision to deny U.N. nuclear inspectors access to sites where they have questions about past activities, arguing that the agency’s case is based on “fabricated” Israeli intelligence. The International Atomic Energy Agency, which is policing Iran’s troubled nuclear deal with major powers, sounded an alarm on Tuesday over a lack of Iranian cooperation in clearing up what the IAEA suspects are undeclared activities and materials dating back to the early 2000s. Iran has denied it access to two sites. Diplomats who follow the IAEA say the decision to inspect those sites to take environmental samples was based at least in part on a trove of documents Israel says its intelligence agents seized in Iran. Israel calls it an “archive” of past activities. The U.N. nuclear watchdog says it does not take information handed to it at face value and vets it thoroughly before deciding whether to act upon it.
No Change in India’s Nuclear Doctrine: MEA
PTI | Hindu
There has been no change in India’s nuclear doctrine, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on March 4. Responding to a question in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan said India is committed to maintaining credible minimum deterrence and the policy of no-first use of nuclear weapons. India has a declared nuclear no-first-use policy under which a country cannot use nuclear weapons as a means of warfare unless first attacked by nuclear weapons.
DRDO Confirms Chinese Ship India Stopped Was Carrying Nuclear-Capable Equipment to Pakistan
Shishir Gupta | Print
Experts from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) have confirmed that an industrial autoclave seized from the Chinese ship Dai Cui Yun can be used for the manufacture of very long-range ballistic missiles or satellite launch rockets. The ship was detained by Customs at Kandla Port while en-route to Port Qasim, Karachi, on February 3 on the basis of an intelligence tip-off and allowed to proceed to the Pakistani port on February 20 after the so-called dual-use (civilian and military) equipment was seized. The autoclave was misdeclared as an industrial dryer. Analysts said DRDO’s confirmation exposes the nuclear nexus between China and its all-weather ally Pakistan.
The White House Gave This Nuclear Agency a Giant Funding Increase. Can It Spend It All?
Aaron Mehta | Defense News
Members of Congress used a hearing Tuesday to question whether the National Nuclear Security Administration, a semiautonomous arm of the Department of Energy that handles development of nuclear warheads, can spend an almost 20 percent funding increase requested by the Trump administration. That NNSA total represents a major increase in agency weapons funding over levels projected in the previous budget request, something that several members noted during an appearance by NNSA head Lisa Gordon-Hagerty at the House Armed Services Committee’s Strategic Forces Subcommittee. A different view was painted by Allison Bawden, director of the natural resources and environment team within the Government Accountability Office, who also appeared before the committee. Bawden warned that the “spend rate has to go up very quickly” for NNSA to be able to spend all the money coming its way. Asked directly by Rep. Susan Davis, D-Calif., if NNSA could successfully execute a roughly $3 billion increase from its FY20 to FY21 request, Bawden said it would be “very challenging” to do so.