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"I want to tell you that your fact sheet on the [Missile Technology Control Regime] is very well done and useful for me when I have to speak on MTCR issues."

– Amb. Thomas Hajnoczi
Chair, MTCR
May 19, 2021
Arms Control NOW

What Kind of Glasses Do You Need to See Iranian ICBMs?

By Greg Thielmann As warnings of the Iranian ICBM threat continue to emanate from the halls of Congress and the sound bytes of strategic missile defense advocates, it is worth taking a moment to observe the yawning gap between the rhetoric and the evidence. During an interview last Sunday on CBS's Face the Nation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left no doubt that he wished to underscore the threat to the United States posed by Iranian intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs): "[The Iranians are] building ICBMs to reach...the American mainland within a few years. They're pursuing...

The Week Ahead in Arms Control: July 22-29

This bulletin highlights significant events in the world of arms control in the coming week, as compiled by staff and friends of the Arms Control Association. (Send your suggestions for events to be covered here .) - Jefferson Morley, Senior Editorial Consultant, Arms Control Today Biden Meets Indian officials on Nuclear Issues In his July 22-25 visit to New Delhi and Mumbai, the Vice President is expected to press Indian authorities to approve changes to their nuclear liability laws that would enable U.S. nuclear vendors to operate in India. Five years ago the U.S. pushed the Nuclear...

No Evidence of INF Treaty Violation in 2013 Compliance Report

By Greg Thielmann The 2013 Arms Control Compliance Report issued by the State Department on July 12 showed little change in the assessments of U.S.-Russian arms control treaty compliance provided by last year's report . Covering the period ending on December 31, 2012, the report provided no obvious basis for the conclusion rendered in a recent amendment adopted by the House Armed Services Committee that Russia was "in active noncompliance with existing nuclear arms obligations." The vague public charge made by the House Committee appears to be a reference to more specific allegations in a...

Nuclear Security: More Action, Less Encouragement

By Kelsey Davenport Delegates gather at the IAEA on July 1 for the opening of the International Conference on Nuclear Security. Last week, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) held its first ministerial-level meeting on nuclear security, the International Conference on Nuclear Security: Enhancing Global Efforts . The purpose of the high-level conference was to strengthen and bring greater global attention to nuclear security and inform the agency's nuclear security plan for 2014-2017. However, after producing a ministerial declaration with lowest common denominator language, "...

Friday's Missile Defense Test: What Will It Mean?

Missile interceptor test lights up the night sky By Tom Z. Collina In its own multi-million dollar display of fireworks, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) will conduct an intercept test of the Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI) system on Friday, July 5. This will be the first test of the system's ability to hit a mock target since two failures in 2010. The last successful intercept was in 2008. However, this is not the key test that will determine if the Pentagon can go ahead with its $1 billion-plan to field 14 additional GBIs in Alaska by 2017, as announced by Defense Secretary Hagel in...

Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty at 45

President Lyndon Johnson looking on as Secretary of State Dean Rusk prepares to sign the NPT, 1 July 1968.(Source: Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library.) By Daryl G. Kimball Forty-five years ago today, the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and dozens of other countries signed the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) at ceremonies in Washington, Moscow, and London. In his remarks at the July 1, 1968 signing ceremony , U.S. President Lyndon Johnson called it "... a very reassuring and hopeful moment in the relations among nations. We hope and expect that virtually all the...

The Week Ahead in Arms Control: July 1-7

This bulletin, posted on Fridays, highlights significant events in the world of arms control in the coming week, as compiled by staff and friends of the Arms Control Association. (Send suggestions for events to be covered here .) - Jefferson Morley, Senior Editorial Consultant, Arms Control Today Missile Defense Faces July Test The Missile Defense Agency is expected to perform the next flight test for its troubled "Ground-based Mid-course" interceptor system sometime in July. The results will highlight the state of U.S. missile defense systems. In March, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel...

Senate Scales Back the B61

By Tom Z. Collina In a victory for fiscal sanity, Senate appropriators today cut the budget for the B61 gravity bomb , a $10 billion program to upgrade a weapon that President Obama said last week he wants to reduce. Given the high cost of this effort, the declining military justification, and the fact that less expensive alternatives exist, Senate appropriators made the right call. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) plans to extend the service life of 400 B61 bombs for an estimated cost of $10 billion, or $25 million per bomb. NNSA is requesting $537 million for the program...

Five Decades Since JFK's Call for a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

Fifty years ago on Monday, June 10, President John F. Kennedy delivered his eloquent and influential “Strategy of Peace” address on the campus of American University in Washington. Coming just months after the 1962 Cuban missile crisis drove home the risks of an unbridled nuclear arms race and the dangers of a direct superpower conflict, the speech was intended to send an unambiguous signal to Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev that the United States sought to “avert those confrontations which bring an adversary to a choice of either a humiliating defeat or nuclear war,” as Kennedy phrased it in...

Joint Statement by India and Japan Highlights Differences on CTBT

India and Japan released a joint statement May 29 on "strengthening the strategic and global partnership" between the two countries. However, the two states differed significantly in their statements regarding the CTBT. Prime Minister Abe of Japan "stressed the importance of bringing into force the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) at an early date." However, Prime Minister Singh of India simply reiterated New Delhi's "commitment to its unilateral and voluntary moratorium on nuclear explosive testing," a statement which notably fails to mention the CTBT, the only legally-binding...

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