The Coming Nuclear Budget Fight in Congress

On the radar: Transparent nuclear weapons budget needed; Markey and Turner joust; Panetta wants to keep his budget; Sport coats and the next plot twist; Pillar on the impulse to pressure Iran; Turning sanctions up to 11; and President Lee in Washington.

October 14, 2011 | Edited by Benjamin Loehrke and Mary Kaszynski

Nuclear budget scrum in Congress - Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Rep. Michael Turner have squared off over how much the U.S. spends on nuclear weapons, offering different 10-year budget figures. ”The confusion is understandable. There is no unified, transparent nuclear-weapons budget. Budgets are spread out over multiple accounts. Congress and the president do not actually know how much we spend,” writes Joe Cirincione.

-- “Their exchanges this week already points to one obvious conclusion: Until Congress gets an accurate nuclear budget and a clear deployment plan, it shouldn't approve new weapons and new production plants,” writes Cirincione. http://owl.li/6XtMu

--For a play-by-play of the nuclear budget battle to date, see Nick Roth and Ulrika Grufman on Nukes of Hazard. http://tinyurl.com/3qqfrwm

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Off the mark by a few thousand warheads - Rep. Michael Turner’s claim that cutting the nuclear budget “amounts to unilateral disarmament” is off the mark, writes Tom Collina in Arms Control Today. “The Pentagon could save tens of billions of dollars on new strategic submarines and bombers while still fielding as many nuclear warheads as already planned [under New START].” http://owl.li/6XtOC

Panetta defends nuke budgets - Sec. Panetta agrees with Turner on the importance of nuclear modernization. “If we aren’t staying ahead of it, we jeopardize the security of this country,” Panetta said at a HASC hearing yesterday. “For that reason, I certainly would oppose any reductions with regards to the funding for weaponization.” http://owl.li/6XtVV

What’s next for the Iran plot? - The Iran plot is weird, to say the least. Lacking details on the story, Wired is having readers vote on what the next development for the Iran plot will be. Our pick: “World leaders see suits replaced with sport coats, Iran suspected.”

--Submit your own plot twist at Danger Room. http://owl.li/6XvX6

Bizarre responses to a bizarre plot - Most of the responses to the Iranian plot “fit into already established patterns,” argues Paul Pillar. “The jumping immediately to recommendations to apply still more pressure on Iran, despite doubts about what Iran did or did not do...without even thinking about the consequences.”

--The administration’s response is even more disturbing, Pillar adds. “Being in this [reelection] mode means being determined to look just as tough on Iran as the next guy...the administration is playing a hazardous game. http://owl.li/6Xu2U

The established pattern - “The United States will apply the ‘toughest sanctions’ to further isolate Iran over the alleged plan to murder the Saudi ambassador to Washington, Barack Obama said on Thursday, despite growing skepticism over the amateurish nature of the plot and the apparently shambolic background of the main suspect,” reports The Guardian. http://owl.li/6XuNf

Quote - “President Obama, his advisers, and all Americans need to ask themselves if this is really the time to bring the United States even closer to another Middle East war fought in blind defiance of the region's strategic realities,” write Flynt and Hillary Mann Leverett for CNN. http://owl.li/6Xu7f

President Lee in Washington - At a press conference with President Obama in Washington, South Korean President Lee said, “For North Korea, the only way to ensure happiness for its people and to embark on that path to development is to abandon its nuclear ambitions...And so we have tried through peaceful means, through diplomatic means to strongly urge North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions." http://owl.li/6Xu8X