Bin Laden Killed, But Terrorist Threat Remains

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

Stories we're following today - Monday, May 2, 2011:

Sen. Lugar: Bin Laden Slaying 'In No Way Eliminates' Terror Threat - The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room [link]

• Amid a backdrop of jubilation surrounding the slaying of bin Laden, Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) said the U.S. must remain vigilant.
• "The reported death of Osama bin Laden is welcome news, but it in no way eliminates the threat from the terrorism he espoused," he said in a statement. "This is another reminder that Americans cannot hide from global affairs."
• "Americans must continue to be vigilant to ensure that terrorist groups and rouge states do not obtain weapons of mass destruction, a goal that I and many other Americans have sought for 20 years," he said.

Keeping WMDs Out Of Terrorist Hands - VOA News [link]

• Seeking to prevent terrorists from acquiring nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to extend by ten years, Resolution 1540: its main legal weapon in stifling the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
• Resolution 1540 compels all UN member states to enact domestic measures to prevent rogue actors from producing, obtaining, or moving weapons of mass destruction, associated goods and their delivery systems.
• As Ambassador Rice said, "The threat of these dangerous weapons – especially in the hands of the non-state actors who are determined to acquire them – is just as serious today as it was in 2004, when the Council first enforced effective nonproliferation and counterterrorism measures."

Defense Science Board: Air Force Nuclear Management Needs Improvements - Hans Kristensen for FAS’ ‘Strategic Security’ Blog [link]

• The Pentagon’s “independent” Defense Science Board Permanent Task Force on Nuclear Weapons Surety has completed a review of the Air Force’s efforts to improve the safety and proficiency of its nuclear bomber and missile units. The report comes three and a half years after the notorious incident at Minot Air Base where six nuclear cruise missiles were mistakenly loaded onto a B-52H bomber and flown across the United States.
• The report concludes that the Air Force’s Personal Reliability Program (PRP), intended to ensure that only qualified people are allowed access to nuclear weapons, has not improved and in some cases increasingly suffers from defects.
• While the Air Force leadership has spoken at length about the importance of improving the nuclear proficiency and safety, the report concludes that the leadership has not yet put the money where its mouth is in terms of prioritizing budgets, upgrades of support equipment, directives and technical orders, and tailoring personnel policies to specific nuclear missions.
  

Japan, Canada, Germany and Others Urge New Effort for Nuclear Disarmament, Non-Proliferation - The Associated Press [link]

• Japan, Canada, Australia, Germany and six other nations urged other countries in the international community Saturday to renew efforts to prevent the proliferation of nuclear material.
• The group said it is urgent to reduce the “danger to humanity posed by the possibility of the use of nuclear weapons” and to achieve tangible results on the path toward a world free of nuclear weapons.
• The production of fissile material for nuclear weapons should be banned internationally “to curb the risk of future nuclear arms races and reduce the danger of non-state actors getting such material into their hands,” the ministers said.

EVENT: "Emerging Opportunities and Challenges of Global Security Engagement Programs" - May 11-12, 2011

• Conference at George Washington University
• Located at 1957 E Street, NW (three blocks from the Department of State)
• RSVP to PublicOutreach@state.gov

A Bomb in Every Reactor - Joschka Fischer for Project Syndicate [link]

• Nuclear power is saddled with three major unresolved risks: plant safety, nuclear waste, and, most menacing of all, the risk of military proliferation.
• The energy derived from splitting uranium and plutonium atoms was originally used for the ultimate weapon, the atomic bomb. Being a nuclear power provides sovereign states with protection and prestige.
• The nuclearization of these not-always-stable states threatens to make the regional conflicts of the twenty-first century much more dangerous, and will also substantially increase the risk that nuclear weapons eventually end up in the hands of terrorists.

EVENT: "Next Steps in U.S.-Russian Arms Control" and "U.S. Nuclear Deterrent Strategy" - May 3rd, 2011 8:00-9:00 am [link]

• Linton Brooks, former Administrator, National Nuclear Security Administration
• Frank Miller, former National Security Council staff
• Part of the NDUF-NDIA Seminar Series at the Capitol Hill Club, 300 First St., SE, Washington
• RSVP to Elma Rhue at rhuee@nduf.org