Morning Joe: Blogging the Nonproliferation Agenda

Stories we're following today:

U.S. Committed to Nuclear Nonproliferation - Under Secretary of State Ellen Tauscher in "Dipnote" [link]

• The pursuit of President Obama’s ambitious vision of nuclear reductions and our ongoing negotiations with The Russian Federation are examples of the new diplomatic concept of flexibility in addressing post-Cold War realities and bolstering confidence in and broadening international support for non-proliferation efforts, as well as laying the groundwork for continued cooperation between the U.S. and Russia.

Delayed Nuclear Reaction - Interview with Roger Howsley in Mother Jones [link]

• Nearly eight years after 9/11, nuclear specialists are only just starting to coordinate industry-wide practices to keep the materials used to make doomsday weapons from falling into terrorist hands.
• Howsley: It's a matter of record that there are terrorist groups that have made plain that if they could access nuclear weapons or nuclear materials and use them for terrorist purposes, they would do so. If you look at some of the court cases related to terrorists, you find that there are people who have actively tried to get hold of nuclear or radioactive materials or have planned to try to get hold them with a view to using them. You have to presume that there is still interest in doing so.

Remarks by Secretary Gates at a Meeting of the Economic Club of Chicago [link]

• All of these decisions [missile defense cuts, F-22s, etc.] involved considering tradeoffs, balancing risks and setting priorities: separating nice-to-haves from have-to- haves, requirements from appetites. We cannot expect to eliminate risk or danger by simply spending more, especially if we're spending on the wrong things.

Gates Grounds the Airborne White Elephant Laser - My analysis in Huffington Post [link]

• Forget the many technical problems that convinced many of us that this flying white elephant [the Airborne Laser] would never work. All you have to know is this: air crews would have to fly an unarmed 747 plane carrying the laser deep into enemy territory and circle for hours in order to even have a chance of getting a shot at an enemy missile rising from cloud cover.