Cold War Workers Get Cold Shoulder

Human costs of the arms race - “Paul Brogdon was a security guard at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant during the last stages of the Cold War, protecting stockpiles of bomb-grade uranium from would-be terrorists… They wore no protective gear apart from their uniforms… After retiring, Brogdon and at least eight other former guards developed prostate cancer, which they blame on radiation exposures at Portsmouth,” write Jim Morris and Jamie Smith Hopkins for The Center for Public Integrity.

--“Brogdon and others who filed [compensation] claims saw them denied by the U.S. Department of Labor… Many other civilian veterans of the Cold War are similarly demoralized, having failed to navigate a Byzantine program... that tries to estimate toxic exposures at secrecy-cloaked sites where records often were lost, destroyed, falsified — or simply didn’t exist… But nearly half the cases over that period have been turned down.”

--“More than 600,000 people worked throughout the weapons complex during the Cold War. When sick employees filed for workers’ compensation with their state programs, the Energy Department directed its contractors to fight the claims. Millions of taxpayer dollars were spent on that effort.” Read the full story here. http://bit.ly/1IZRRjm

Arms race redux - “Far from continuing the nuclear disarmament that has been underway for the last two decades, we are starting a new nuclear arms race,” warns former Secretary of Defense William J. Perry in his new book, My Journey at the Nuclear Brink. “This is not hyperbole. The United States and Russia are acting with increasing belligerence toward each other while actively pursuing monstrous weapons.”

--“As Joe Cirincione described in the Huffington Post, the Pentagon plans to spend $1 trillion over 30 years on ‘an entire new generation of nuclear bombs, bombers, missiles and submarines’... Russia has been at least as aggressive. As Cirincione described, Russian state media recently revealed plans for a new kind of a weapon — a hydrogen bomb torpedo… designed to kill millions along a country’s coast… The increased tension between the U.S. and Russia will have dire global consequences even if neither side launches a weapon.” Read the full piece by Katrina vanden Heuvel for The Washington Post here. http://wapo.st/1RPuVun

Tweet - @KelseyDav: Not surprising. Focus must now be on #IranDeal implementation - IAEA decides to close nuclear weapons probe of Iran http://bit.ly/1mlQGpK

Shelve the LRSO - “The U.S. military is about to embark on a modernization program to sustain the strategic nuclear triad. The program will generate a huge ‘bow wave’ of spending requirements in the 2020s. One big problem: The Pentagon has no idea how to pay for it,” writes Steven Pifer for Brookings. “The Pentagon comptroller recently called the strategic force modernization ‘the biggest acquisition problem that we don’t know how to solve yet.’”

--“Shelving the LRSO would eliminate a redundant weapon, save real money, and still leave a powerful deterrent force… The LRSO amounts to an insurance policy for the insurance policy that the B-3 will provide against a missile defense breakthrough [as air defenses improve]… [that] carries a hefty $15 to $30 billion price tag. That is money the Defense Department will not have or, if it does, could be used better to meet other vital defense needs.” Get the full opinion here. http://brook.gs/1TGmboO

Blessing in disguise - “With a series of highly advertised sea- and air-launched cruise missile attacks against targets in Syria, the Russian government has demonstrated that it doesn’t have a military need for the controversial ground-launched cruise missile that the United States has accused Russia of developing and test-launching in violation of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty… [Putin] confirmed… that the sea- and air-launched cruise missiles can deliver both conventional and nuclear warheads,” writes Hans Kristensen for the Federation of American Scientists.

--“Now that Russia has demonstrated the capability of its new sea- and air-launched conventional long-range cruise missiles – and announced that they can also carry nuclear warheads – it has demonstrated that there is no military need for a long-range ground-launched cruise missile as well. This provides Russia with an opportunity to remove confusion about its compliance with the INF treaty by scrapping the illegal and unnecessary ground-launched cruise missile project.” Get the full story here. http://bit.ly/1UtX75s

Tweet - @iaeaorg: #IAEA Board adopts landmark resolution on #Iran PMD case: https://goo.gl/4MTYO3

Past is the past, focus on the future - “The IAEA director-general submitted his ‘Final Assessment on Past and Present Outstanding Issues regarding Iran’s Nuclear Programme’ on Dec. 2. And now, a draft resolution by the Board of Governors to close the issue — dated Dec. 7 — has been circulated and leaked to my friend Andreas Persbo… Of course, the steady implementation of the deal is being met with the same opposition as every other step of the process. The ‘Possible Military Dimensions’ file is closed,” writes Jeffrey Lewis for Foreign Policy.

--“Iran doesn’t have to confess for the IAEA to have gotten to the bottom of its nuclear weapons program, any more than a criminal needs to confess to be convicted. Closing the file doesn’t give Iran a clean bill of health or remove prior offenses; it allows the parties to move toward implementing the terms of the nuclear deal, which imposes limits on Iran’s nuclear program and provides additional transparency. The IAEA remains, however, charged with reaching a ‘Broader Conclusion that all nuclear material in Iran remains in peaceful activities.’” Get the full story here. http://atfp.co/1k0eJJ4

Tweet - @TomCollina: U.N. watchdog decides to close #nuclear weapons probe of #Iran reut.rs/1J9bDJo

DoE denial hurts nonproliferation regime - “So-called ‘life extension’ and ‘modernization’ programs are undoubtedly expanding the military applications of US nuclear weapons – and they are intended to do so. The continued and shameless denial of this fact by officials at the Departments of Energy, State and Defense and the National Laboratories undermines US credibility and fosters distrust while awkwardly seeking to prop up false claims regarding both US adherence to nuclear nonproliferation commitments and transparency within the U.S,” writes James Doyle for The Hill.

-- Newly upgraded bombs, such as the B61-12, “will be able to strike targets more accurately with a smaller explosive yield and less radioactive fallout with the net result being that it is more likely to be used in a conflict situation crossing the once taboo threshold from conventional to nuclear war. Lowering the threshold of nuclear war poses the very real threat of rapid escalation in a conflict potentially resulting in the use of many, more destructive nuclear weapons.” Read the full story here. http://bit.ly/1SWFF8w

Quick Hits:

--“Middle East Report N० 166: Iran After the Deal,” by International Crisis Group. http://bit.ly/1YhKf2K

--“Nuclear Weapons Misconduct by the Numbers,” by Jacob Marx for POGO. http://bit.ly/1TLikqw

--“Putin's Finger On The Nuclear Trigger -- U.S. Sees A Scary Reversal In Russian Policy,” by Donald Kirk for Forbes. http://onforb.es/1Rf5mn3

Events:

--“Reducing the Risk of Nuclear War in the Nordic/Baltic Region,” featuring Barry Blechman, Alex Bollfrass and Laicie Heeley. Tuesday, December 15th from 12:00 - 1:30 PM at Stimson Center, 1211 Connecticut Ave. NW, 8th Floor, Washington, DC. RSVP here. http://bit.ly/1kRxVdf

--“Implementing the Iran Nuclear Deal: What's Next?,” featuring numerous experts. Thursday, December 17th from 8:30 AM - 3:45 PM at the Atlantic Council, 1030 15th Street NW, 12th Floor, Washington, DC. RSVP here. http://bit.ly/1lsMjIF

--“Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing: The Status of JCPOA Implementation and Related Issues,” featuring Stephen Mull. Thursday, December 17th at 9:30 AM. Webcast available here. http://1.usa.gov/1lM7xlx