Valerie Plame's Appeal on International Women's Day

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

Stories we're following today - Tuesday, March 8, 2011:

Reaching Global Zero - Valerie Plame Wilson for The Huffington Post [link]

• To mark the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day, it would be quite easy to write about the challenges of being a woman in the man's world of the CIA. Lots of hand-wringing on the inequalities faced by women in the CIA (not to mention how they are portrayed in popular media), but that's just so predictable. Instead, as a testament to how far we've come, I prefer to tackle an issue that affects all of us regardless of gender -- nuclear proliferation.
• Let's start with the known threat: Without doubt, terrorist groups are trying to buy, build or steal a bomb. Furthermore, there is enough highly-enriched uranium (HEU) in the world to build more than 100,000 weapons, and rogue individuals are selling technology on the black market. If terrorists get hold of HEU, they could not be prevented from smuggling it into a targeted city, building a bomb and exploding it.
• To my mind, the only realistic solution to this danger is to lock down all nuclear materials and eliminate all nuclear weapons in all countries: Global Zero. I am now dedicated to achieving this goal as a leader of the Global Zero movement.
• Young people must be on the forefront as they have been with other successful movements. That is why April 8-10 -- the anniversary of the 2010 signing of the START Treaty and President Obama's 2009 Prague speech calling for a world without nuclear weapons -- Global Zero will convene hundreds of students and young professionals for the GZ|DC Convention in Washington, DC.
• I will do whatever I can to support the vision of a world without nuclear weapons and encourage any young person who is willing to commit him or herself to this cause to apply here to join Global Zero and attend the Convention. Now, that's something all women can celebrate.

Obama Could Launch CTBT Ratification Push in March - Global Security Newswire [link]

• The Obama administration is set to submit a new intelligence analysis to the U.S. Senate in March as part of an anticipated push to win congressional approval of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, Kyodo News reported on Sunday.
• Following circulation of the new National Intelligence Estimate, which outlines data said to support the case for ratification, the National Academies of Science is expected this spring to release a separate assessment in support of the pact's ratification, according to a high-level U.S. government source and an expert with administration ties.
• In making its argument for the pact's approval, the administration would refer to recent additions to the global array of sensors and laboratories intended for detecting underground test blasts, as well as strides in U.S. capabilities for evaluating the reliability of nuclear weapons without the use of test detonations, the insiders said.
• The treaty's ratification prospects could also benefit from advances in the Stockpile Stewardship Program, the U.S. scientific program for maintaining the safety and reliability of the arsenal without testing, the official and expert said.
• The United States is one of 44 nations that must ratify the prohibition on nuclear test blasts before it can enter into force. It is among nine holdouts in that group; the others are China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, North Korea and Pakistan. 

New ‘ICBMs vs. Terrorists’ Plan: Now 50% Less Crazy!- David Axe in “Danger Room” a Wired blog [link]

• In just the last couple weeks, the Air Force has done some serious waffling on its controversial plan to use conventionally-armed Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles to take out terrorist targets. Controversial, because every ballistic missile launch — nuke or non-nuke — looks the same on radar, so every strike on a terror camp risks igniting World War III. One general said the plan was kaput. Then a senior civilian official said it wasn’t. A second general weighed in, saying he wasn’t sure yet.
• According to our source, the basic plan to hit terrorist targets with a speedy, non-nuclear missile remains intact. The so-called “Prompt Global Strike” missile will be based on an ICBM, but it will only be partially ballistic. Under the current thinking, a modified Peacekeeper ICBM will boost an armed hypersonic glider to high speed and altitude, at which point the glider’s own momentum will take over.
• This idea for a non-apocalypse-starting, hybrid, semi-ballistic weapon helps explain how two generals and a senior civilian official could seem to contradict each other.
• That being the case, civilian official Stephen Walker and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz weren’t contradicting Scott when they said, several days after Scott’s comment, that ballistic missiles were still on the table for Prompt Global Strike. The ballistic missiles were never the entire solution.

Biden Visits Russia to Keep Up New START Momentum - Steve Gutterman in Reuters [link]

• U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrives in Russia on Tuesday to build on two years of improving ties capped by the New START nuclear arms reduction pact's entry into force last month as elections in both nations draw closer.
• The treaty, and Obama's decision to scale down Bush-era plans for a missile shield in Europe, helped secure Kremlin approval for new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program as well as cooperation on Afghanistan.
• The White House and Russia also want progress toward turning decades of disputes over missile defense into cooperation.
• The Obama administration wants to make the improved relationship more resistant to political tension by bolstering economic ties, and both countries hope Russia's 18-year-old bid to join the World Trade Organization will succeed this year.

UN Chief Nuke Inspector Critical of Iran - George Jahn in The Washington Post [link]

• Yukiya Amano, who heads the International Atomic Energy Agency, also said that Iran may have worked on a nuclear arms program past 2004, indirectly contradicting U.S. intelligence estimates in the public domain.
• Amano's comments Monday follow even stronger warnings in a confidential report last month, when he said Iran may be working on a secret nuclear weapons program even now.
• Separately Friday, Amano told the 35-nation IAEA board that Iran is refusing to cooperate with an IAEA probe of its programs.
• "Iran is not providing the necessary cooperation to enable the agency to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran," Amano told the board's opening session.
• Enrichment for peaceful purposes is allowed under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. But the Islamic Republic's nuclear secrecy has added to concerns. Beyond refusal to cooperate with the IAEA program of alleged nuclear weapons programs experiments, its enrichment program was clandestine until a dissident group revealed it nearly a decade ago.