NATO's Pending Decision on Tactical Nuclear Weapons

Today's top nuclear policy stories, with excerpts in bullet form.

Stories we're following today: Friday September 3, 2010.

NATO's Nuclear Decision - Daryl Kimball of the Arms Control Association [link]

• The Cold War is long over, but there are nearly 200 U.S. tactical nuclear bombs on NATO military bases. Russia, which has an even larger stockpile of tactical nuclear bombs, refuses to enter into talks to limit them, citing the U.S. deployments in Europe.
• NATO is a strong and dynamic alliance that simply does not need to cling to obsolete U.S. weapons of mass destruction to sustain transatlantic unity...t is time for Washington to lead and for NATO to act.
• Following ratification of the New START Treaty, President Obama has pledged to pursue further reductions in all types of U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons—deployed and non-deployed, strategic and tactical.
• To increase the chances of success, the United States must persuade its NATO partners to eliminate the requirement for forward-deployed tactical nuclear weapons in the alliance’s new Strategic Concept, due to be completed this November.
• Obama should make it clear that he supports the withdrawal of tactical nuclear bombs from Europe as a step toward his vision of a world without nuclear weapons.
• NATO should announce it will not be the first to use nuclear weapons, begin withdrawing its obsolete tactical nuclear forces from Europe, and formally invite Russia to engage in talks with Washington to verifiably account for, consolidate, and dismantle all tactical nuclear weapons held by each side.

Kehler Replacing Retiring Chilton at StratCom - Air Force Times [link]

• Gen. Kevin Chilton is retiring after leading the joint U.S. Strategic Command for three years, and President Obama has nominated Gen. Bob Kehler to replace him.
• In written statement announcing his departure, Chilton said, “Now, it’s time to close this chapter of my career and say thanks to all of those who have supported [my wife] Cathy and me over the past three decades.”
• Since arriving at StratCom in October 2007, Chilton has been a vocal advocate for modernizing the nation’s aging stockpile of nuclear weapons.

Senate Should Ratify New START - Letter to the Savannah Morning News[link]

• The New Strategic Arms Reductions Treaty between the U.S. and Russia waits in the Senate for ratification.
• Since December, the U.S. has been unable to verify Russia's nuclear stockpiles of warheads and fissile material, 272 days, now. There is no need to delay ratification of the New START treaty. No one's watching the henhouse.
• Our Senators are home for fall recess, taking the pulse of the electorate. One of the first things they should do upon returning to Congress in September is to get New START debated and ratified.

View from the Hill

Want Middle East Peace? Deny Iran Nukes - Sen. Scott Brown in the Wall Street Journal [link]

• I don't pretend to have all the answers on how to end the conflict between Arabs and Israelis, but I do know that it is doomed so long as Iran remains a menacing actor on the world stage.
• I took my first trip to the Middle East last month…in all my meetings in Israel and Jordan, what weighed most on the minds of security officials and political leaders was the prospect of a nuclear Iran.
• A nuclear-armed Iran is unacceptable.
• While we should encourage the Israelis and Palestinians as they return to the negotiating table, let's not lose sight of the real threat to peace in the Middle East: Iran, the leading state sponsor of terror in the world, armed with a nuclear weapon.

Happy Labor Day Weekend

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