Digests and Blog

By Tom Collina As ACA reported in a recent blog post, the State Department announced June 1 that Russia's nuclear arsenal is already below the limits set by the New START treaty. Most people would say it's a good thing that there are now less deployed nuclear weapons in Russia that could be aimed at the United States. Most people would say it's good that Moscow reduced its forces early, rather than wait until 2018, as the treaty allows both sides to do. And most people would say that New START has already made America safer. Sen. John Kyl R-Ariz. (Image Source: AP) But Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.)…

by Daryl G. Kimball This week former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin parroted the misinformed critiques by Republican members of Congress and former CIA director James Woolsey about sharing missile launch data with Russia. In an entry on her Facebook page, Palin wrote: "President Obama wants to give Russia our missile defense secrets because he believes that we can buy their friendship and cooperation with this taxpayer-funded gift. But giving military secrets and technologies to a rival or competitor like Russia is just plain dumb. You can't buy off Russia. And giving them advanced military…

President Barack Obama and President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia sign the New START Treaty during a ceremony at Prague Castle in Prague, Czech Republic, April 8, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy) By Tom Collina Observers of last year's Senate debate on the New START treaty may be surprised to learn that Russia has already met most of its arsenal reduction obligations under the treaty. According to a State Department fact sheet released today, Russia is below the treaty's limits of 1,550 deployed strategic warheads and 700 deployed delivery vehicles, and close to the 800…

Reps. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) and Rep. Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) By Alfred Nurja As we approach the one year anniversary of the CISADA Act , the U.S. Congress is considering new Iran sanctions legislation. Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Rep Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), Democratic ranking member Howard Berman (D-Calif.) and a number of other House Members have introduced a new bill in the House, entitled Iran Threat Reduction Act. (H.R. 1905). The Senate is expected to soon follow suit with a bill of its own. While making sense of these measures and walking through their implications…

In the most detailed and substantive address by a senior Barack Obama administration official to date, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Ellen O. Tauscher spoke at the Arms Control Association's May 10 annual meeting on "The Case for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty." She made it clear that the administration would soon engage with Republican and Democratic Senators on the CTBT and provide updated information on the key technical issues that gave some Senators reason for pause during the 1999 debate on the treaty. Tauscher explained in detail…

Rep. Michael Turner (Image Source: The Atlantic Council) By Rob Golan-Vilella and Daryl G. Kimball Last December, the Senate approved the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) by a vote of 71-26. In the context of the treaty's consideration, a number of Senators expressed their support for providing the resources necessary to maintain the existing nuclear weapon stockpile and upgrade the National Nuclear Security Administration's (NNSA) weapons complex facilities used for that purpose. Earlier in the year, the Barack Obama administration outlined a robust 10-year plan totaling $85…

By Daryl G. Kimball Thirteen years after the May 1998 Indian and Pakistani nuclear test explosions, South Asia is a more dangerous place. India's May 11 and 13 nuclear test explosions were its first since its inaugural nuclear weapons test in 1974. Pakistan responded soon thereafter and conducted its first nuclear weapons test detonations (five) on May 28 in the Chagai Hills region. The nuclear tests immediately increased tensions in the region and shocked the world. In India and Pakistan, the test stirred up an orgy of nuclear nationalism in some quarters and prompted protest in others.…

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- An LGM-30 Minuteman III missile soars in the air after a test launch. The Minuteman is a strategic weapon system using a ballistic missile of intercontinental range. (U.S. Air Force photo) By Greg Thielmann When traveling the interstate on a long car trip, it's usually better to get up to maximum safe speed rather than creeping along at the legal minimum. Likewise, in order to achieve the full benefits of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), it would be highly desirable to commit the United States to reaching the treaty's limits as soon as…

The White House announced yesterday that the President has submitted the Protocols to the African and the South Pacific Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Treaties to the U.S. Senate for advice and consent to ratification. Fifteen years since these Treaties were signed by the United States, the submission marks an important step toward providing these countries with assurance that the United States would not use nuclear weapons against them, thereby reinforcing their decision to strengthen their nuclear nonproliferation commitments and encouraging other countries to do the same. As the ArmsControlNow…

By Daryl G. Kimball The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has just released a new video and blogpost on the role of their supercomputers in the nuclear weapons stockpile stewardship program--a role that has grown by leaps and bounds over the past 15 years or so. One message that comes across is that the nuclear weapons labs know more about the physics of nuclear weapons today than they did in the days of nuclear test explosions ... and that old myths and assertions about the necessity of nuclear test explosions need to be revisited. For instance, back in 1992 when we were all…