Cartwright, Hagel, Burt and Pickering call for Steep Reductions

On the radar: 900 warheads, no launch-ready alert, cut ICBMs; Veto threat for NDAA nuclear provisions; Iran to launch satellite next week; Kodak’s bomb-grade uranium; China presses North not to test; Not good for New Mexicans; Appropriators vs. authorizers on BMD; and Lost meets The Hunt for Red October.

May 16, 2012 | Edited by Benjamin Loehrke and Mary Kaszynski

900 warheads total - A panel of former U.S. officials, including STRATCOM commander Gen. James Cartwright, Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, and ambassadors Richard Burt and Thomas Pickering, is calling for steep reductions to the U.S. arsenal.

--In a forthcoming report the panel proposes cutting to 900 warheads over ten years (either unilaterally or through negotiations with Russia); taking the weapons off hair-trigger alert; and eliminating the ICMB leg of the triad.

"There is no conceivable situation in the contemporary world in which it would be in either country's national security interest to initiate a nuclear attack against the other side," the report says. AP’s Desmond Butler has the story. http://owl.li/aX1bF

--Global Zero hosts the phone press conference with Gen. Cartwright today at 1:30pm. Details here. http://owl.li/aX1cX

Veto threat - The Obama administration threatened to veto the House version of the Defense authorization bill, citing the bill’s restrictions on nuclear policy and its breach of the Budget Control Act of 2011. Jeremy Herb at Defcon Hill has the story. http://owl.li/aX1eH

--Statement of Administration Policy here: “The Administration strongly objects to sections 1053-1059, which would impinge on the President's ability to implement the New START Treaty and to set U.S. nuclear weapons policy” http://owl.li/aX1fZ

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Unaffordable and unnecessary - “How does building a plutonium laboratory that DOD and NNSA say they cannot currently afford and do not currently need fit into [efforts to end the nation’s debt problem]?” Nick Roth and Danielle Brian ask HASC champions of CMRR in The Hill. http://owl.li/aX1lY

Bad timing - Iran is planning to launch a satellite into space next Wednesday, just as nuclear talks in Baghdad commence. Asks Noah Shachtman, what makes Iran’s satellite launch less inflammatory than North Korea’s? The main reason appears to be that Iran does not have nuclear weapons, unlike North Korea. Also, Iran can “plausibly claim” to have a civilian space program, as they have placed satellites and a small petting zoo’s worth of animals into orbit.

--Shachtman reports on what Iran stands to learn from such a satellite launch and why, as Paul Pillar said, “the U.S. intelligence community does not believe Iran is anywhere close to having an ICBM.” http://owl.li/aX1nk

Tweet - @PlutoniumPage: Kodak confirms it had weapons-grade uranium in underground lab. http://owl.li/aX1pP

Neighborly pressure - China has been quietly pressing North Korea to not conduct a nuclear test, possibly threatening to cut economic aid if the North tests. Reuters has the story. http://owl.li/aX1rS

CMRR - The National Nuclear Security Administration has determined that it can meet its missions without spending $6 billion on CMRR, allowing the program to be cut from budget requests. Susan Gordon asks why some in Congress are trying to revive this boondoggle and notes that the program would bring more harm than good to New Mexican citizens. In the Albuquerque Journal (paywall). http://owl.li/aX1hX

House divided - While House appropriators matched or slightly increased the Pentagon’s requested funding levels for missile defense programs, the House Armed Services Committee voted for a $460 million increase, including $100 million for a proposed East Coast shield. Kate Brannen of Defense News has the story. http://owl.li/aX1u9

ABC’s Last Resort - When a submarine captain refuses to fire nuclear missiles on Pakistan, he takes his crew on the run to an exotic island. That’s the plot for ABC’s fall series “Last Resort.” Trailer here. http://owl.li/aX1km

--Early Warning editors assume the show will be some combination of this, this, and this.