Morning Joe: How to Dismantle a Nuclear Bomb

Stories we're following today:

How to Dismantle a Nuclear Bomb - BBC News [link]

• How do you dismantle a nuclear bomb? And how do you verify another country is genuinely disarming without compromising sensitive national security material?
• The dismantlement experiment is a joint exercise between the UK and Norway - the first of its kind - and was held a few miles from Oslo. The five-day exercise has been keenly anticipated internationally as a way of building trust between nuclear weapons states and non-nuclear weapons states.
• It is designed to see if one country can verify the disarmament of another country's nuclear weapon, but without any sensitive information about national security and weapon design being compromised.

The UK Government's Road to 2010 - much to welcome, but still looking under-developed in key areas - BASIC [link]

• The [UK] government's [Road to 2010] published today appears in places under-developed, and we look forward to seeing further statements and commitments in the months to come prior to the NPT Review Conference in May 2010.

Ahmadinejad appoints new nuclear chief - Associated Press [link]

• The replacement is unlikely to bring any change in the nuclear policy or impact the standoff between Iran and the West over the country's nuclear program since head of the nuclear program is not directly involved in negotiations, and ultimately all decisions on policy lie with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

State Department Confirms FAS Warhead Estimate - FAS Strategic Security Blog [link]

• The U.S. State Department has confirmed the estimate made by FAS on this blog in February that the United States had already reached the limit of 2,200 operationally deployed strategic nuclear warheads set by the 2002 Moscow Treaty.

A View from the Dark Side

It Is Important to Get Nuclear Weapons Policy Right - Lawrence Eagleburger in the Wall Street Journal [link]

• Given Russia's perhaps 10 to one numerical advantage over the U.S. in tactical nuclear weapons, the administration -- if it hopes at some point to negotiate a reduction in this disparity -- "must maintain negotiating leverage in the form of strategic launchers and weapons." In other words, don't accept the Russian demand that negotiations be limited to reductions in strategic weapons and launchers. The U.S. maintenance of substantial numbers of strategic weapons and launchers must be maintained for some time to come.
• [Dark Side nod to the PONI Blog (link)]

The Lighter Side

For Neil Armstrong, the First Moon Walker, It Was All about Landing the Eagle [link]

• For a test pilot like Armstrong, compared with landing on the moon, setting foot on it was no big deal.