Nuclear Weapons Are "the Greatest Danger to the American People," Says President Obama

We are happy to serve you a daily summary of the day's top nuclear policy stories each morning, with excerpts from the stories in bullet form.

Stories we're following today:

President Obama's State of the Union Address - White House [link]

• Now, even as we prosecute two wars, we're also confronting perhaps the greatest danger to the American people -– the threat of nuclear weapons. I've embraced the vision of John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan through a strategy that reverses the spread of these weapons and seeks a world without them.
• To reduce our stockpiles and launchers, while ensuring our deterrent, the United States and Russia are completing negotiations on the farthest-reaching arms control treaty in nearly two decades.  
• And at April's Nuclear Security Summit, we will bring 44 nations together here in Washington, D.C. behind a clear goal: securing all vulnerable nuclear materials around the world in four years, so that they never fall into the hands of terrorists. 
• Now, these diplomatic efforts have also strengthened our hand in dealing with those nations that insist on violating international agreements in pursuit of nuclear weapons. That's why North Korea now faces increased isolation, and stronger sanctions –- sanctions that are being vigorously enforced. That's why the international community is more united, and the Islamic Republic of Iran is more isolated. And as Iran's leaders continue to ignore their obligations, there should be no doubt: They, too, will face growing consequences. That is a promise.
• Watch President Obama deliver his State of the Union Address:

Obama Phones Medvedev pre-SOTU - Politico [link]

• The White House released a readout of a phone call between President Obama and his Russian counterpart. The two leaders spoke ahead of the president's address Wednesday, to discuss arms treaty negotiations.
• "Earlier today, President Obama spoke with President Medvedev of Russia to thank him for his hard work and leadership on the New START Treaty negotiations, as the two sides have made steady progress in recent weeks. The Presidents agreed that negotiations are nearly complete, and pledged to continue the constructive contacts that have advanced U.S.-Russian relations over the last year.
  

U.S. to Outline New Iran Sanctions - Wall Street Journal [link]

• The Obama administration will this week introduce a paper to the permanent U.N. Security Council members and Germany outlining Iranian individuals and firms to be targeted in a new sanctions regime, said senior officials involved in the diplomacy.
• The U.S. paper specifically targets entities controlled by Tehran's elite military unit, the Revolutionary Guards, and marks an escalation of Washington's financial campaign against Iran for its defiance of international demands for a halt to its nuclear program.
• The U.S. ideas will build on three rounds of existing U.N. sanctions on Iran and will target individuals and business interests, particularly those tied of the Revolutionary Guards, said these officials.
  
  

Colin Powell: 'Nuclear Weapons Are Useless' - Max Bergmann in the Wonk Room [link]

• Through these experiences, Powell concluded that nuclear weapons are “useless” and ought to be eliminated.
• "The more I got into nuclear weapons. The more I realized that these weapons must never be used."
• "The one thing that I convinced myself after all these years of exposure to the use of nuclear weapons is that they were useless. They could not be used. If you can have deterence with an even lower number of weapons, well then why stop there, why not continue on, why not get rid of them altogether…This is the moment when we have to move forward and all of us come together to reduce the number of nuclear weapons and eliminate them from the face of the earth."

 Cold Warriors Say No Nukes - Ben Goddard in the Hill [link]

• Last evening a movie about life, death and the survival of our planet premiered at Universal Studios in Hollywood.
• That would never be headline or column material were it not for the principal players in the film. Four Cold Warriors, former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and George Shultz, former Secretary of Defense Bill Perry and former Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), made a bold, dramatic and — to some — unexpected statement with a film I was privileged to write and direct.
• What is the likelihood of a terrorist group getting or making a weapon? I don’t want to be an alarmist, but what I learned in the making of this film does keep me awake some nights. 
• Once they’ve made the point that the only way to win what Nunn calls the “race between cooperation and catastrophe” is to eliminate the source of the danger, the four lay out a logical series of steps to achieve the goal of a nuclear-free world.
• For more information about the documentary, please visit the Nuclear Tipping Point website or read the film's press release.  
• California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, co-host of the Los Angeles premiere, said: “I am pleased that the Nuclear Tipping Point’s premiere is in California so that we can help focus attention on the dangerous consequences of nuclear weapons.  Those dangers are here and now. I am thankful that George Shultz, Bill Perry, Henry Kissinger, and Sam Nunn have a big vision -- a vision as big as humanity -- to free the world of nuclear weapons and to take the steps we need to realize that vision.”