Rare Diplomatic Opening on Iran

On the radar: Nick Burns on Rouhani; Another ICBM readiness failure; Multilateralize it; Pentagon putting nukes before troops; and Defending the realm with a wall of ice.

August 15, 2013 | Edited by Benjamin Loehrke and Alyssa Demus

Rare opportunity - Iran’s new president Hassan Rouhani is signaling his interest in negotiating with Washington, providing an extraordinary diplomatic opportunity for the U.S. and Iran to solve the nuclear impasse. It’s unclear if a deal is within reach. “The only way to test [Rouhani], of course, is at the negotiating table. That is why President Obama is right to exploit this rare diplomatic opening,” writes Amb. Nick Burns.

--“Obama faces an additional roadblock in Congress, where both parties are competing to load even more sanctions on Iran....It makes no sense to tie Obama’s hands before talks begin when the United States already has substantial sanctions in place. Rather than torpedo negotiations, Congress and Israel should give Obama time, space, and flexibility to match wits with Iran’s leaders.”

--”Obama now has the opportunity to match Rouhani’s offer and open talks with Iran for the first time in 34 years. He has the right instinct — diplomacy first before thinking about war with Iran,” writes Burns. Full post in The Boston Globe. http://b.globe.com/13ncarB

Broken wing - An Air Force unit responsible for one third of the US’ ICBMs has failed a “surety” inspection, which the “Pentagon defines as a ‘nuclear weapon system safety, security, and control” check according to Global Strike Commander Lt. Gen. James Kowalski. The fumbled exercise meant to “ensure that no nuclear weapon is accidentally, inadvertently or deliberately armed or launched without presidential authority,” is the Air Force’s second failure this year.

--”Without more details it is difficult to reliably judge the extent and severity of the problem uncovered at Malmstrom, home of the 341st Missile Wing, which is one of three nuclear missile wings. Each wing operates 150 Minuteman 3 ICBMs, on alert for potential launch against targets around the globe.” Disciplinary action has yet to be taken against anyone for the failure. Robert Burns at AP has the story. http://ow.ly/nXczk

Maddow on missile failures - “Handling nuclear weapons is just something you can’t keep failing at, but we do...maybe we might start to have a conversation about not having quite so many of these bombs around to babysit,” said Rachel Maddow after reporting on the nuclear failures plaguing the Air Force. View the entire segment here. http://ow.ly/nXhR8

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Going multilateral - “In recent years, U.S. arms control policies have been overly preoccupied with the tried and true process of negotiating with Russia. It is time to challenge that status quo and link arms control more closely with the national strategy it is supposed to support,” writes Amb. James Goodby.

--Goodby argues that, while US-Russia relations mend, the U.S. can move forward its nuclear security agenda by intensifying talks with China and other permanent members of the UN Security Council. “The aim should be to build a coalition that could work together to create the conditions for a world where means other than nuclear devastation provide security assurances.” Full article in The New York Times. http://nyti.ms/1cFwMPV

Tweet - @NTI_WMD: Excellent history and timeline by @CFR_org on U.S.-Russia Nuclear Arms Control efforts http://t.co/7XbG6Y4kmb

Confused priorities - “Our military leadership has recently stated that nuclear weapons are off limits to budget cuts – even though they have already determined that the United States can reduce the number of strategic warheads it deploys by up to one third below the New START levels. Meanwhile, top Pentagon priorities such as troop training and readiness and conventional air and sea power projection capabilities are being put under the sequester knife,” writes Kingston Reif in an analysis of Pentagon plans to exempt nuclear budgets from cuts.

--”The reality is that nuclear weapons aren’t cheap. And while the Department of Defense’s budget dilemma cannot be solved on the back of nuclear weapons, there are significant savings to be found by trimming the arsenal and scaling back planned modernization programs.” Full analysis at the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation. http://bit.ly/16oyMbL

Tweet - @thinkprogress: A nuclear weapons facility in Texas will soon host the largest federally-owned wind farm via @koronet http://thkpr.gs/14LvQDD

Speed reads -

--“Government Must Continue Review of Nevada Nuclear Waste Site, Court Says” by Matthew Wald in The New York Times. http://ow.ly/nXhka

--“Nato chiefs deal blow to SNP’s anti-nuclear strategy” by Severin Carrell at The Guardian. http://ow.ly/nXhFE

--“Obama, Snowden and Putin” by Thomas Friedman in The New York Times. http://nyti.ms/15ITwoh

Events:

--”Challenges for Congressional Action on Extending the U.S.-Republic of Korea Nuclear Cooperation Agreement,” Mark Holt, CRS. August 15, 2:00-3:00 PM @SAIS, Rome Building. Details here. http://ow.ly/nT74p

--”Extended Deterrence and Strategic Stability in Northeast Asia” Brad Roberts. August 26, 9:00-10:30 AM @ Stimson Center. Details here. http://ow.ly/nT7nA

--International Day Against Nuclear Tests. August 30.

Dessert:

Nuclear Night’s Watch - “Here's the crazy thing about the plan to build an almost mile long, 90-foot deep, subterranean ice wall around the Fukushima nuclear plant: It's not really very crazy at all. Building cryogenic barriers sounds like the specialty of an obscure supervillain, but it's a well-established technique in civil engineering,” writes Alexis Madrigal. Full story in Global Security Newswire. http://bit.ly/15IUqkx

New Jersey & Nukes - The Colbert Report’s 72nd installment of “Better Know A District” features a rendition of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb. Video at Colbert Nation here. http://ow.ly/nXjCQ