Transparency, Stability Key to Deep Nuclear Reductions

On the radar: Gottemoeller on next steps for U.S. nuclear policy; S. Africa & NNSA bring the world 6 kg closer to nuclear security; U.S. dismantles the big bomb; and Lt. Gen. Gard asks Bolton, “What would Ronald Reagan Say?”

August 18, 2011 | Edited by Benjamin Loehrke and Rizwan Ladha

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After New START, greater transparency, more confidence and deeper reductions - VOA editorial: “The United States is committed to continuing a step-by-step process in U.S.-Russian arms reductions regarding the overall number of nuclear weapons, including the pursuit of a future agreement with Russia for broad reductions in all categories of nuclear weapons – strategic, non-strategic, deployed and non-deployed.”

-- “The United States is at the leading edge of transparency efforts” in arms control and disarmament, which work to increase confidence amongst nations and build the conditions necessary for a world free of nuclear weapons.

-- “We hope,” says U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification and Compliance Rose Gottemoeller, “that all countries will join in the common effort to increase transparency and build mutual confidence.” http://ow.ly/1vTj6i

Removing dangerous fissile materials, making the world safer - Pavel Povdig reports that the National Nuclear Security Administration [NNSA] has “announced the return of 6.3 kg of U.S.-origin HEU [highly enriched uranium] spent fuel from South Africa.”

-- The operation, which “was completed in cooperation with The South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Nesca),” is part of the NNSA’s Global Threat Reduction Initiative [GTRI]. http://ow.ly/1vTk6K

Tweets @ConnectUSFund, “More dangerous #nuclear material locked down = less chance of #nuclear terrorism - thanks NNSA and S.Africa tinyurl.com/3rks6oh”

Scrapping the minivan-sized, 9 megaton bomb - Frank Munger reports, “workers at the Oak Ridge plant dismantled their first B53 unit in December 2010. That was [a year or two] in advance of an earlier schedule.”

-- “The B53 weapon system was one of the biggest nuclear bombs ever built. Each bomb is about the size of a mini-van, weighs about 10,000 lbs, and has an explosive yield of about 9 megatons.” http://ow.ly/66pZM

Withdrawing from INF Treaty makes zero sense - In their op-ed earlier this week, John Bolton and Paula DeSutter argue that the United States should withdraw from the 1988 Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty because it constrains U.S. response options to threats from China, North Korea and Iran.

-- Lt. Gen. Robert Gard responds, “It is by no means clear why they believe that a deterrent to the employment of cruise and ballistic missiles against our troops must consist of mirror-image weapons systems … Unless, of course, because this is simply a convenient if illogical excuse to free the U.S. from constraints on adding to our weapons arsenal by deploying short and medium range missiles.” http://ow.ly/1vTkMI

Headline of the week: - “Compromise, or We Shoot the Pentagon”

-- The National Journal’s James Kitfield reports, the recent debt deal “released the hostage of America’s good faith and credit, only to replace it with the Defense Department. Now U.S. military leaders have gotten a good look at the faces of their captors, and the fact they recognize once reliable friends hasn’t altogether eased their fears.” http://ow.ly/66s5N