On the radar: Rational defense spending and the nuclear budget; The unknown costs of missile defense; Takeyh on Iran’s nuclear calculus; Dempsey on the military option; Prevention, containment, and isolation; New START and the defense bill; and Newt’s EMP fears.

December 12, 2011 | Edited by Benjamin Loehrke and Mary Kaszynski

A Pentagon the Country Can Afford - ”Whatever happens [with the budget sequester], the Pentagon needs to learn to live within the country’s means,” writes the New York Times editorial board. “There is room to cut, if it is done with prudence and innovation.”

--”Tens of billions are spent annually on cold-war systems ill-suited to 21st-century needs...Another sound target: bloated nuclear-related programs, which could cost upward of $600 billion over the next decade across the government.” http://owl.li/7WEZ0

Waiting on a BMD price tag - The first time the Office of Management and Budget asked for a comprehensive cost estimate for the European missile defense program, back in 2009, DOD failed to provide it. Now OMB is making the request a second time, AOL Defense reports. http://owl.li/7WGiZ

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Iran’s nuclear calculus - “Iranian nuclear calculations are predicated on a distinctly domestic calculus: The Islamic Republic perceives it can reclaim its international standing better with the bomb than without one,” writes Ray Takeyh in the Washington Post. http://owl.li/7WF2D

Getting ahead of the facts on Iran - A misleading headline, “Iran’s quest to possess nuclear weapons,” was fixed, thanks to the quick action of grassroots organization Just Foreign Policy. Washington Post ombudsman Patrick Pexton writes: “In a Web-driven world, one bad headline can circle the globe in minutes and undermine The Post’s credibility. It can also play into the hands of those who are seeking further confrontation with Iran.” http://owl.li/7WGsJ

Military option recedes - Speaking at the Atlantic Council last week, JCS Chair Gen. Dempsey echoed Defense Secretary Panetta’s assessment of the risks of military action against Iran, adding that the US “is doing everything we can to accomplish the stated objective without resorting to military force." Barbara Slavin discusses how the military option is receding amid the debate over sanctions. http://owl.li/7WGkG

White House’s changing Iran policy - The administration’s Iran policy has shifted from prevention to isolation, argue Michael Makovsky and Blaise Misztal in the Washington Post. “Isolation now appears a goal in its own right, uncoupled from the objective of preventing nuclear capabilities.”

--Citing the administration’s opposition to blunt sanctions and “lack of support for a military option,” the authors conclude that “the Obama administration needs to regain its clarity and refocus its rhetoric and action toward preventing a nuclear Iran. It should do so, if necessary, by ‘all elements of American power.’” http://owl.li/7WGps

Cost, safety concerns at nuclear plant - “The federal government says a one-of-a-kind plant that will convert radioactive waste into a stable and storable substance that resembles glass will cost hundreds of millions of dollars more and may take longer to build, adding to a string of delays and skyrocketing price tag for the project,” AP reports. http://owl.li/7WFgR

Nuclear Policy and the NDAA - House and Senate leaders are working to reconcile their different versions of the FY12 defense authorization bill. Among the big differences: the House bill includes language that would prevent the administration from cutting below New START levels. From Global Security Newswire. http://owl.li/7WF0z

Newt: Beware EMP - GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is worried about the dangers of an EMP attack. Experts are not convinced. “If terrorists want to do something serious, they’ll use a weapon of mass destruction — not mass disruption,” Yousaf Butt says. “They don’t want to depend on complicated secondary effects in which the physics is not very clear.” http://owl.li/7WFeo

12 Days of Ploughshares - Ploughshares Fund is rolling out a series of blog posts on what sets the organization apart. Day 1 starts here: http://owl.li/7WI9T