In this issue:
- BASIC and Getting to Zero (GTZ)
- Commitments to Disarmament and Arms Control
- Country reports
- Missile Defense
- Additional Publications
BASIC and Getting to Zero (GTZ)
BASIC staff have been meeting with officials in Washington and London while the US administration is conducting a Nuclear Posture Review and the British government is facing pressure to reconsider moving ahead with a replacement platform for its nuclear weapon system. Martin Butcher authored a background briefing on the NPR for BASIC in an effort to inform European officials about the process. The NPR will surely have consequences for NATO’s Strategic Concept Review, which the alliance has now started. Paul Ingram, BASIC’s Executive Director, and Ian Davis, founder of NATO Watch, warn in this blog entry for the Connect US Fund that NATO will need to pay particular attention to its relationship with Russia in order to allow the Obama administration to pursue fully its nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament goals.
- Obama’s Nuclear Posture Review: Putting flesh on the bone of his nuclear diplomacy (PDF)
Martin Butcher, Getting to Zero Special Briefing, June 23, 2009 - NATO reform critical to the Obama Administration’s nuclear disarmament agenda
Paul Ingram and Ian Davis, Connect Fund Blog, May 1, 2009
Commitments to disarmament and arms control
Preparatory Committee for 2010 NPT considered a success
Delegates to the third and final session of the Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) for the 2010 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference (RevCon) agreed on a provisional agenda for the 2010 Review Conference – the first time one has been agreed upon in 15 years. The agenda includes consideration of provisions to protect non-nuclear weapons states from nuclear coercion, the establishment of more nuclear weapon-free zones, operationalizing the right of each nation to develop peaceful nuclear energy, and measures to deepen nonproliferation and disarmament.
Delegates failed, despite attempts, to adopt a list of specific recommendations for the RevCon. The first draft, released by the Chair on May 7th, recommended concrete steps to be taken toward disarmament, including reducing the operational status of nuclear forces, marginalizing their role in security policies, and refraining from their qualitative improvement.” But the revised draft, released the following week, watered down the disarmament proposals putting greater emphasis on the implementation of nonproliferation initiatives and highlighting the 1995 Resolution on the Middle East (for a WMD free zone). Demands from some non-nuclear weapon states that the nuclear weapons states agree to legally-binding commitments to dismantle their nuclear arsenals and not to use their nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states were rejected. Members failed to adopt the second revision of recommendations. Nevertheless, the Prep Com was considered to be successful – few had expected any concrete agreements at this point, and the stage has been set for 2010.
Conference on Disarmament – FM(c)T
The second session of the 2009 Conference on Disarmament also experienced a breakthrough. Soon after U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s opening remarks on May 18 made reference to the encouraging political climate for disarmament, the Conference created a working group to discuss the development of a Fissile Material (cut-off) Treaty (FM(c)T). The White House released a statement by US President Barack Obama declaring, Today’s decision ends more than a decade of inactivity in the Conference on Disarmament, and signals a commitment to work together on this fundamental challenge.”
START
The first round of substantive negotiations for follow-on to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) was held in Moscow from May 18-20, with a second round of negotiations held in Geneva from June 1-3. The US delegation was led by Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller, and the Russian team was headed by Anatoly Antonov, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Chief of Security and Disarmament. The United States reported productive meetings, and a Russian spokeswoman for President Medvedev said that a draft document to replace the 1991 START agreements may be ready by the July 6-8 summit in Moscow. Negotiators began their third round of meetings on June 23 in Geneva. START expires on December 5 of this year.
IAEA continues selection process for a new Director General
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has not yet selected a new Director General to replace its current Director, General Mohamed ElBaradei, who steps down in November 2009. Currently there are five nominated candidates for the position: Mr. Yukya Amano (Japan); Mr. Luis Ech�varri (Spain); Mr. Abdul Samad Minty (South Africa); Mr. Ernest Petric (Slovenia); and Mr. Jean-Pol Poncelet (Belgium). Following April’s elections when all candidates failed to gain the necessary two-thirds majority from the IAEA Board of Governors, a secret non-binding straw poll
was held on June 9, and Japan’s Amano received 20 of the 35 votes cast, leaving him just short of the required two-thirds majority, and South Africa’s Minty received 11 votes. A formal vote is scheduled for July 2, and will be repeated until a candidate garners the two-thirds requirement. Diplomats fear that a protracted election process combined with the North-South tension already prevalent on the IAEA Board could damage the Agency.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon launches the “WMD-We Must Disarm! Campaign”
On June 13, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon marked the 100 days leading up to the International Day of Peace on September 21 by launching a new U.N. campaign to raise awareness of the true costs and dangers of nuclear weapons.”Each day during the 100-day campaign, a reason why the international community should support nuclear disarmament is shared via Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and other social networking and Internet media venues. The United Nations Foundation has a ‘We Must Disarm Declaration‘ open for signatures on their webpage to support the campaign. On June 15 Ban Ki-Moon issued a statement on the importance of expediently bringing the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty into force. He appealed to the nations that have not yet signed and ratified the Treaty to do so as quickly as possible.
Further reading
Indonesia will ratify CTBT if US does
UPI, June 9, 2009
Obama seeks global uranium fuel bank
Bryan Bender, Boston Globe, June 8, 2009
No nukes: Possibility or pipe dream?
The Editors, New York Times blog: Room for Debate, June 7, 2009
The renaissance of nuclear disarmament
Anthony Salloum, Embassy, June 3, 2009
Case for ratifying Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
Samuel Berger, Sam Nunn, and William Perry, Politico, June 2, 2009
After Iraq, it’s not just North Korea that wants a bomb
Seumas Milne, Guardian, May 27, 2009
Report from the NPT Preparatory Committee 2009
Miles A Pomper, MIIS James Martin Center for Nonproliferation
Studies, May 26, 2009
Obama treaty push hinges on blobal nuclear ‘listening’ net
Charles Hanley, The Associated Press, May 19, 2009
Developing nations seek assurances on nuclear arms
Colum Lynch, Washington Post, May 16, 2009
The trouble With zero
Philip Taubman, New York Times, May 9, 2009
Turkey to face pressure over US nukes on its soil
Lale Sariibrahimoglu, Today’s Zaman, May 4, 2009
Electing the nuclear Pope
Charles D Ferguson, Foreign Policy, May 2009
Grading progress on 13 steps toward nuclear disarmament
Sharon Squassoni, Carnegie Endowment, Policy Outlook No. 45, May 2009
Beyond START: Negotiating the next step in US and Russian strategic nuclear arms reductions
Steven Pifer, Brookings Foreign Policy Paper Series Number 15, May, 2009
Reshaping strategic relationships: Expanding the arms control toolbox
Lewis A. Dunn, Arms Control Today, May 2009
US , Russia agree on path for new arms nuts
Cole Harvey, Arms Control Today, May 2009
The logic of the Test Ban Treaty
Daryl G Kimball, Arms Control Today, May 2009
Confronting the bomb: A short history of the world nuclear
disarmament movement
Lawrence S Wittner, Stanford University Press, California, 2009
Country reports
United States
Sensitive, unclassified information on US nuclear sites accidentally published
On June 2, the US Government Printing Office (GPO) accidentally published on its website a 286-page draft document that was prepared for the IAEA on the location and sensitive design details of US nuclear facilities. Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists first reported on the FAS blog Secrecy News the appearance of the document. The GPO took down the report quickly although the document was not classified.
Tauscher confirmation hearing for position in Administration’s arms control team
Representative Ellen Tauscher (Chair of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee) testified at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing considering her nomination as the new Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security on June 9. She said her immediate priorities will be negotiating a follow-up agreement to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia, the development of a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty, and the ratification and entry into force of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Tauscher reiterated President Obama’s call for a world free of nuclear weapons, while confirming that the United States will “maintain a safe, secure and reliable deterrent against any adversary and an effective defense for our allies” while nuclear weapons continued to exist. Rep. Tauscher was still awaiting confirmation as of June 24.
On June 1, Secretary of State Clinton named Robert Einhorn as her special advisor for disarmament and nonproliferation and Susan F. Burk was confirmed as the President’s special representative for nuclear nonproliferation.
Obama meets with Shultz, Perry, Kissinger and Nunn
On May 19, the four Americans most widely associated with the current push for nuclear disarmament through their two notable op-eds in the Wall Street Journal in January 2007 and 2008, former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and George Shultz, former Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sam Nunn, and former Secretary of Defense William Perry, met with President Obama to discuss nuclear weapons strategy. Obama listed strengthening the NPT, pursuing ratification of the CTBT, and cooperating with Russia in arms reduction efforts as specific steps that must be taken to “lock down loose nuclear weapons” and, in the long term, eliminate them. “All four of us support enthusiastically what the president is doing,” Shultz commented. After the meeting President Obama spoke with reporters:
I don’t think anybody would accuse these four gentlemen of being dreamers. They’re hard-headed, tough defenders of American interests and American security. But what they have come together to help galvanize is a recognition that we do not want a world of continued nuclear proliferation, and that in order for us to meet the security challenges of the future, America has to take leadership in this area.
Senator John McCain also voices qualified support for a world without nuclear weapons
In a June 3 speech honoring former President Ronald Reagan, Arizona Senator and former Republican Presidential candidate John McCain added his voice to the increasing number of US politicians supporting the vision of nuclear disarmament. Quoting a Ronald Reagan speech from 1983, McCain said, “The only value in possessing nuclear weapons is to make sure they can’t be used ever. I know I speak for people everywhere when I say our dream is to see the day when nuclear weapons will be banished from the face of the Earth.” The same day the White House released a statement by President Obama welcoming McCain’s support of a “world without nuclear weapons” and expressing the President’s commitment to working together with Congress on issues of arms control.
Further reading
Nuclear promises
Zia Mian, Foreign Policy in Focus, June 4, 2009
Remarks by the President on a new beginning (Cairo Speech)
Barack Obama, The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, June 4, 2009
Statement of Thomas P D’Agostino, Under Secretary for Nuclear Security and Administrator, National Nuclear Security Administration, US Department of Energy (PDF)
Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, June 3, 2009
The Case for No First Use
Scott D Sagan, Survival, Volume 51, Issue 3, June 2009, pp 163-182
(subscription or purchase required to access full article)
NPR [Nuclear Posture Review] Terms of Reference Fact Sheet (PDF)
Department of Defense, June 2, 2009
Lots of hedging, little leading: An analysis of the Congressional
Strategic Posture Commission Report
Hans M Kristensen and Ivan Oelrich, Arms Control Association, June, 2009
The Hoped-For Laser Miracles
Editorial, New York Times, May 28, 2009
The Test Ban Treaty
Editorial, The New York Times, May 24, 2009
Statement of Secretary of Defense Robert M Gates (PDF)
Senate Armed Services Committee, May 14, 2009
Posture Statement of Admiral Michael G Mullen, USN, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (PDF)
Senate Armed Services Committee, May 14, 2009
Testimony on “NNSA’s Fiscal Year 2010 President’s Budget Request” by Thomas P D’Agostino, Under Secretary for Nuclear Security and Administrator, National Nuclear Security Administration, US Department of Energy
House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, May 13, 2009
US Warhead disposal in 15-year backlog
Peter Eisler, USA Today, May 13, 2009
Obama administration is bringing nuclear arms control back
Mary Beth Sheridan, Washington Post, May 8, 2009
Nuclear bailout: The costs and consequences of renovating the US nuclear weapons complex
William D Hartung, New America Foundation, May 7, 2009
Strategic failure: Congressional Strategic Posture Commission Report
Ivan Oelrich, Hans M. Kristensen, FAS Strategic Security Blog,
May 6, 2009
Defense budget baloney
Winslow T Wheeler, Politico, May 6, 2009
United Kingdom
UK Commons Report suggests renewal of Trident could be seen as contradictory to UK goals
After receiving evidence from a variety of witnesses and groups, including BASIC, the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee published a report on June 14 on “Global Security: Non-Proliferation.” It commended the British government for publicly acknowledging the connection between nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament, but also stated that much more could be done. The Committee warned that the 2010 Review Conference could fail without “decisive movement by the five recognized nuclear weapons states as a whole on nuclear disarmament measures.” It advised that the UK government’s disarmament public diplomacy and transparency would be undermined by the decision to proceed full speed towards Trident replacement. This fall the British government is due to submit a full design contract [Initial Gate stage] for the new submarines. The report recommended, “that the Government should not take any decision at the Initial Gate stage until Parliament has had the chance to scrutinise the matter in a debate.” The Committee also said that the Government should also come forward with an explanation of what it sees as a “minimum deterrent” posture and whether there are any conditions under which the Government “would be prepared to suspend the Trident renewal programme.”
Ministry of Defense confirms radioactive leakage from nuclear powered-submarines
In April the Ministry of Defence released a report acknowledging multiple safety breaches at the nuclear submarine fleet’s base at Faslane (HM Naval Base Clyde). The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has sought the right to inspect and control operations at the naval base and has sent “final warning” letters to the MoD, threatening to shut down nuclear operations at Faslane. The UK Government has refused to provide SEPA with direct legal authority, citing national security sensitivities.
Further reading
A naïve approach to nuclear standoff
Harry Phibbs, Comment is Free, The Guardian, June 18, 2009
Nick Clegg says Lib Dems won’t replace Trident because world has moved on
Patrick Wintour and Nicholas Watt, The Guardian, June 16, 2009
Brown urged to review Trident proposal
James Blitz, Financial Times, June 15, 2009
Global security: Non-Proliferation Fourth Report of Session 2008-09 (PDF)
Foreign Affairs Committee, House of Commons, June 14, 2009
Trident may be wrong size … so we pay an extra GBP100m
Rob Edwards, The Sunday Herald, May 10, 2009
Iran
Presidential election
The current crisis within Iran, which has this last week included widespread violence, and the power struggle behind the scenes with an uncertain outcome, will have an enduring and fundamental impact on the international dispute over Iran’s nuclear program. While all candidates have been committed to continuing the program, it is thought that the leading opposition candidate, Mir Hossein Moussavi, would be more open to diplomatic engagement with the West, and he has suggested that he would provide stronger guarantees that Iran’s nuclear program is strictly for energy.
Diplomacy, on hold prior to the elections, remains frozen. US and European officials had hoped to receive an official response from Tehran to their invitation offered through Javier Solana to join the P-5+1 talks. During a diplomatic visit prior to the elections, French President Nicolas Sarkozy strongly urged Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki to support Iran’s participation in the P-5+1 talks or risk increased international isolation. US deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Rosemary DiCarlo reported to the Security Council that Iran has not officially responded to the invitation but, despite this, “The United States remains committed to direct diplomacy with Iran to resolve issues of concern to the international community and will engage on the basis of mutual respect.” Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has also pressed Iran to respond to the invitation.
IAEA report on Iran’s nuclear program
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) released their latest report on Iran on June 5, a week before the elections, that presented findings that were similar to previous reports: no confirmation of evidence of diversion; outstanding and unresolved questions; additional number of centrifuges added and greater stocks of enriched uranium accumulated; and an appeal to Iran to implement the Additional Protocol. Iranian officials again responded by reiterating the program’s peaceful purposes and that they had cooperated with inspectors to the degree that is required of them.
Ballistic missile test
US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates confirmed the May launch of an Iranian medium-range ballistic missile, the Sajjil-2, able to reach Israel and some of southern Europe. President Ahmadinejad had used the test to engage in aggressive electoral
posturing during the Iranian Presidential Elections.
Further reading
Iran Uprising Changes Nuclear Calculus
Joe Cirincione, Huffington Post, June 17, 2009
IAEA Report on Iran: Centrifuge and LEU increases; access to Arak reactor denied; no progress on outstanding issues (PDF)
David Albright and Jacqueline Shire, Institute for Science and International Security, June 5, 2009
Iran increases uranium enrichment pace; defies UN inspectors
Jonathan Tirone, Bloomberg, June 5, 2009
Agreement and relevant provisions of Security Council resolutions 1737 (2006), 1747 (2007), 1803 (2008) and 1835 (2008) in the Islamic Republic of Iran Report by the Director General, IAEA (PDF)
(available via the Institute for Science and International Security) June 5,
2009
US-Iranian engagement: The view from Tehran
International Crisis Group, Middle East Briefing No. 28, June 2, 2009
Former diplomat: Iran won’t stop nuclear work (interview)
Borzou Daragahi, Los Angeles Times, May 27, 2009
Iran’s test could alter Europe’s missile balance
Nicholas Kralev, Washington Times, May 21, 2009
Iran’s Nuclear Program: An Opportunity for Dialogue
Kayhan Barzegar, Center for Strategic Research, May 2009
Iran’s Nuclear and Missile Potential: A Joint Threat Assessment by US and
Russian Technical Experts (PDF)
EastWest Institute, May 2009
North Korea
North Korea Responses to North Korea’s nuclear test
On May 25 North Korea conducted its second underground nuclear test in an effort to “bolster up its nuclear deterrent for self-defense.” North Korea also announced that it is no longer bound by the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War and warned other countries not to disrupt or stop its ships suspected of transporting missiles and other weapons. The nuclear test also coincides with intensified speculation and rumors over the future succession to Kim Jong-il.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement which “strongly deplores the […] underground nuclear test […] in clear and grave violations of the relevant Security Council resolutions.” The Security Council was swift to denounce North Korea’s actions. On Friday, June 12, after extensive negotiations, the Security Council unanimously passed Security Council Resolution 1874, imposing heightened economic and military sanctions. The resolution also “Calls upon all States to inspect, in accordance with their national authorities and legislation, and consistent with international law, all cargo to and from the DPRK, in their territory, including seaports and airports, if the State concerned has information that provides reasonable grounds to believe the cargo contains items the supply, sale, transfer, or export of which is prohibited.” As of June 24th, a US ship was tracking one North Korean vessel, suspected of carrying illicit arms for Myanmar.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned North Korea’s “belligerent behavior” and has indicated that the United States will consider placing North Korea back on its list of states that sponsor terrorism, in addition to developing a “mechanism [… to] interdict North Korean shipments.” In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, US Special Representative for North Korea Policy, Ambassador Stephen Bosworth, reported that the United States remains open to diplomatic engagement, although there are no signs that North Korea is ready or willing to come to the table. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced that the US is deploying its Terminal High Altitude Area and Defense (THADD) and Sea Based X-Band (SBX) radar off the coast of Hawaii. This announcement comes just days after a Japanese newspaper reported that North Korea may launch a long-range ballistic missile toward Hawaii, though many analysts doubt that North Korea has any with that range.
Amid the controversy surrounding North Korea’s weapons programs, two American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, were accused of illegally entering North Korean territory and sentenced to 12 years in a labor camp. American officials were quick to denounce the court’s decision and called for the release of the two journalists on humanitarian grounds.
Further reading
North Korea: Getting back to talks (PDF)
Asia Report No 169, The International Crisis Group, June 18, 2009
North Korea’s nuclear program: Looking forward
Graham Allison, Douglas Dillon, Martin Malin, Hui Zhang,
Harvard Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, June 9, 2009
Testing the world’s patience
Daryl G Kimball, Arms Control Today, June 2009
North Korea’s weapons testing
John S Park, US Institute of Peace, On the Issues: North Korea,
May 28, 2009
Responding to North Korea’s nuclear test
Gareth Evans, The Age, May 28, 2009
Next phase in the analysis of the announced DPRK nuclear test
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, May 27, 2009
Analysts worry threatening North Korea with sanctions could create escalation
Andre de Nesnera, Voice of America, May 26, 2009
What to Do About North Korea
Robert Kagan, Dan Blumenthal, Washington Post, May 26, 2009
Commentary: North Korea blast is a test for US
Paul Carroll, Ploughshares Fund, CNN.com, May 26, 2009
No crisis for North Korea
Editorial, Washington Post, May 26, 2009
A path to peace with North Korea
Martin Butcher, Guardian, May 26, 2009
North Korea will not be ignored
Joe Cirincione, Huffington Post, May 25, 2009
Russia
Russia’s National Security Strategy Released
On May 13, five days before diplomats began their May 18-20 talks to prepare for the START negotiations, Russian President Medvedev released the new national security strategy detailing over-arching security challenges and policy priorities through 2020. The document [Russian] formalized energy as a key issue and important foreign policy factor, and promised to “make every effort to retain [nuclear] parity with the United States.” Security Council head Nikolai Patrushev made clear after the release that NATO enlargement is a high security priority for Russia.
Putin support for vision of world without nuclear weapons; while Commander has low expectations for START follow-on reductions
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Russia could give up nuclear weapons if everyone else that had them did the same, during a meeting with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on June 10th. Steinmeier was reported to have focused heavily on issues of nuclear disarmament during his talks with Putin in Moscow and to have encouraged Russian President Medvedev and Putin to pursue improved relations with the United States and the European Union. On the same day, the commander of Russia’s Strategic Nuclear Forces, Colonel-General Nikolai Solovtsov, was quoted as saying that Russia cannot cut its nuclear stockpile by more than a few hundred strategic warheads during START follow-on negotiations.
Further Reading
Nuclear notebook: Russian nuclear forces, 2009 (PDF)
Robert S. Norris and Hans M Kristensen, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists,
May/June, 2009
The loose Russian nukes
Elizabeth Zolotukhina, GlobalSecurity.org, May 19, 2009
Pakistan
Pakistan augmenting its nuclear weapons program
In recent testimony before the US Senate Armed Services Committee, Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that Pakistan, which has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), is substantially stepping up its nuclear weapons program, including the production of more fissile material. Congress is currently considering significantly increased civilian and military aid to Pakistan, as support for counterterrorism efforts, and Senators are seeking assurances the aid is not be spent on increasing the destructiveness of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. The United States has provided funding intended specifically to address the security and safety of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons, but has no control or clear audit ability to ensure the money is spent wisely. President Zardari, in an interview with Der Speigel, reassured those concerned that “the nuclear capability of Pakistan is in safe hands,” but admitted that this was less certain if Pakistan’s democracy were to fail. US President Barack Obama said later in an interview with DAWN that he felt confident “that the Pakistani government has safeguarded its nuclear arsenal.”
Further reading
Another nuclear anniversary
Pervez Hoodbhoy, DAWN, May 28, 2009
ISIS Statement on Washington Post Report from May 28, 2009 (PDF)
Institute for Science and International Security, May 28, 2009
Missile Defense
Missile defense still hurdle in US -Russian relations
The US proposal, involving 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic, is currently under review. Before Congressional budgetary hearings on June 9, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said he believed American and Russian officials’ assessments of Iran’s missile program are now more closely aligned, and suggested that this may mean Russia becomes more amenable to a missile system based in the Czech Republic and Poland. Russian officials afterwards protested saying the plans were still unacceptable and must be abandoned. Colonel-General Nikolai Solovtsov, commander of Strategic Missile Forces, said they hope by 2016 to “modernize not only missile systems but also command-and-control systems in order to improve their ability to overcome missile defenses and increase the survivability of delivery vehicles.” Poland expects a US Patriot battery, part of a theater missile defense system, to be set up on its territory this year, regardless of the missile defense timetable. US Admiral Michael Mullen was scheduled to travel to Moscow at the end of June to meet with General Nikolai Markarov, and they are expected to discuss the missile defense system.
Gates proposes cuts to missile defense plans
Secretary Gates has proposed budgetary cuts in missile defense systems in the FY 2010 budget. Roughly $7.8 billion will be allocated for missile defense programs, down $1.2 billion from the previous year. Cuts include the Multiple Kill Vehicle, the Kinetic Energy Interceptor, and Boeing’s second Airborne Laser aircraft. The SM-3 and Theater High-Altitude Area Defense programs are due for increases in funding. Gates pledged that the Defense Department will continue to invest in augmenting defenses against long-range missiles.
Further reading
Strategic missile defense: A reality check
Greg Thielmann, Arms Control Association, May 21, 2009 (PDF)
Hearing to receive testimony on military space programs in
review of the defense acquisition request for fiscal year 2010
and the future years defense program (PDF)
Transcript, US Senate Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, May, 20, 2009
Space security or anti-satellite weapons (PDF)
Michael Krepon and Sam Black, The Stimson Center Space Security Program, May 2009
Additional publications
Iran’s procurement of US military aircraft parts: Two case studies in illicit trade (PDF)
David Albright, Paul Brannan and Andrea Scheel, Institute for Science and International Security, May 21, 2009
Steinmeier calls for US to withdraw nukes
Oliver Meier, Arms Control Today, May 2009
The taming of the great nuclear powers
Godfried van Benthem van den Bergh, Carnegie Endowment Policy Outlook No 46, May 2009
An Opportune Moment for a Shared Euro-Atlantic Security Strategy (PDF)
Simon Serfaty, Center for Strategic & International Studies, May 2009
Ballistic and Cruise Missile Threat Report (PDF)
National Air and Space Intelligence Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, NASIC-1031-0985-09, April 2009 (posted on the site of the Federation of American Scientists, June 2009).