Clinton, Medvedev to Discuss New START in Moscow

We are happy to serve you a daily summary of the day's top nuclear policy stories each morning, with excerpts from the stories in bullet form.

Stories we're following today:

Clinton to Discuss Nuclear Treaty on Moscow Trip - The Wall Street Journal [link]

• Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will seek to overcome the final obstacles impeding the completion of a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia during her two-day trip in Moscow that will include a meeting with President Dmitry Medvedev, said senior U.S. officials.
• Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Medvedev aren't expected to formalize the agreement governing both countries' nuclear-weapons stockpiles during their Friday encounter.
• The State Department believes the meeting between Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Medvedev could provide the high-level leadership required to push forward a final resolution to the talks.
• U.S. officials said negotiations with Moscow often drag on without the direct influence of the Kremlin.

Air Force Strategists Say US Should Unilaterally Cut Nukes by 90 Percent - Max Bergmann in The Wonk Room [link]

• A new article from three Air Force strategists and scholars, including a Colonel who is part of the staff working directly for the head of the Air Force, argues that the US should unilaterally cut its nuclear arsenal by more than 90 percent – going down to 311 nuclear weapons from the current 5000.
• This new proposal should serve as a major boon to arms control advocates in the coming debates and should embolden the White House to push for a bolder NPR.
• Noting that during the Cold War “the actual marginal utility of additional forces was quite small,” the authors conclude that a significantly smaller arsenal of nuclear weapons will be more than enough to maintain an effective deterrence and to assure allies without any cost to our security.

Dan Poneman on the Nuclear Security Summit and Buying Time - The Hill Blog [link]

• Next month, the White House will host a Nuclear Security Summit, which 40 heads of state plan to attend.
• Deputy Security of Energy Dan Poneman gave us a glimpse into the pressing nuclear-security issues facing the U.S. and the world.
• Poneman characterized Obama’s remarks in Prague as laying out an “aspirational vision.”
• He noted that the administration’s long-term ambition in the nuclear nonproliferation arena is tempered by realism about what is possible and desirable in the short run.
• Poneman maintained that Iran, unlike North Korea, is sensitive to diplomatic pressure. He said, “The negotiations in Vienna, I think, made clear that a fault line will now separate Iran from the rest of the world. They have in Tehran responded when there has been a solid international front confronting them."
  
  

Nuclear Pre-Game Huddle - Joe Cirincione in the Huffington Post [link]

• If you like the excitement of March Madness, you're going to love April. It will begin possibly the busiest four months in arms control history -- packed with a new Nuclear Posture Review, START Treaty, Nuclear Security Summit, and the Review Conference to the Nonproliferation Treaty.
• The basic idea is that by seriously committing to the policy goal every US president since Harry Truman has espoused--the elimination of nuclear weapons--we can win domestic and global support for near-term steps that make our nation safer.
• Nobody said this was going to be easy. There are some tough players on the other teams. It comes down to who has the most determination, smarts and heart.