Senator Kyl Holds the Key to New START

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

Stories we're following today, Tuesday, November 16, 2010:

All Eyes on Sen. Kyl as Obama Presses Nuclear Treaty – Mary Beth Sheridan and Walter Pincus in The Washington Post [link]

• Sen. Jon Kyl (Ariz.) has been his party's leading voice on the treaty and has pressed the administration to commit to a major modernization of the country's weapons labs in exchange for approval of the pact.
• The administration sent a delegation that included Gen. Kevin Chilton, head of U.S. nuclear forces, to Arizona to woo Kyl on Friday, and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates will meet with Kyl this week to try to seal a deal, according to two officials.
• The high-octane lobbying - and the administration's offer to spend an extra $4 billion on the nuclear complex - reflect Obama's belief that the treaty is crucial to his nuclear agenda and the U.S.-Russia relationship.
• Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) said Kyl was working with the administration on how to modernize the aging labs and to ensure the ratification resolution clarified that the treaty didn't inhibit U.S. missile defense.
• "If those two issues are resolved - and I think they can be resolved - then I think we could move forward with the ratification to the START treaty," McCain said at a conference sponsored by the Foreign Policy Initiative, a think tank.
• Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said on ABC's "This Week" that if those two issues were addressed, "I would vote for the treaty."
• Gates talked to Kyl about the extra $4 billion in a telephone call Friday. That money would be on top of an earlier administration pledge of a $10 billion increase.
• "The administration is going above and beyond what's required in order to get approval from Senate Republicans," said Stephen Young of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Barack Obama Assures Dmitry Medvedev on START Nuclear Weapons Treaty – Toby Harnden in The Telegraph [link]

• President Barack Obama has promised Dmitri Medvedev, his Russian counterpart, that he will push the United States Senate to ratify the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) nuclear weapons treaty this month.
• Leaving Japan after a summit of the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) organisation, Mr Obama said: "I reiterated my commitment to getting the START treaty done during the lame-duck session."
• White House officials view the START treaty as a litmus test for whether Republicans, emboldened after their sweeping gains in the midterm elections, will oppose Mr Obama's entire agenda.
• One Obama adviser said there would be a "full-court press" on Capitol Hill to ratify the treaty. "The president has made it very clear publicly that this is his highest priority in terms of foreign policy."

North Korea Constructing Light-Water Reactor, Expert Says – Global Security Newswire [link]

• North Korea has started construction of a light-water reactor at its Yongbyon nuclear site in what might be an effort to grab international attention and pressure the United States into returning to nuclear negotiations with the Stalinist state.
• The experimental reactor would be capable of producing roughly 25 to 30 megawatts of power, Siegfried Hecker, a former head of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, told journalists in China following a visit to North Korea.
• The building effort is still very new and would probably require several years to finish, Hecker said.
• The alleged reactor work "is a message to the United States that North Korea will keep working on its nuclear programs unless the U.S. comes forward to the six-nation talks," Seoul-based analyst Kim Yong-hyun said.
• The six-party negotiations involve China, Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and the United States. They propose to reward the North's permanent denuclearization with security guarantees and massive amounts of economic aid.

New Fuel Deal with Iran: Getting Back to Basics – Ivanka Barzashka in the Federation of American Scientists' Strategic Security Blog [link]

• After a year-long stalemate, Iran and the P5+1 seem to have agreed on a day for holding political talks – December 2. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed last week that the meeting “will not include discussions on fuel swap” – the deal with France, Russia and United States, also known as the Vienna Group, to refuel the Tehran Research Reactor (TRR).
• A successful fuel deal is a necessary condition for further engagement. However, circumstances have changed since October 2009, when the Vienna Group first made the fuel offer. Now, the State Department maintains that “any engagement [should be] in the context of that changed reality.”
• A revised fuel deal should incorporate all of Iran’s produced 20 percent uranium. Tehran’s current stockpile of 30 kg 20-percent enriched UF6 is equivalent to 200 kg of low-enriched UF6.
• A proposal that includes Iran’s current 20-percent stockpile and corresponds to the fuel requirements of the TRR should include 1,000 kg of low-enriched UF6 and 30 kg of 20-percent enriched UF6.
• The deal to refuel Tehran’s medical isotope rector is still worth pursuing and is a necessary condition for further engagement on Iran’s controversial nuclear program.
• Leaving Iran with less than a weapon’s worth of uranium was a political selling point, not a long-term strategic advantage.
• Prospects for negotiating suspension of Iran’s 20-percent enrichment are still good, but time is running short. Despite changed circumstances, the deal’s threat reduction and confidence building benefits can still be salvaged. Inaction could allow Iran to further increase its weapons potential.

Nobel Peace Prize Winners Urge Nuclear Weapon Ban, Cheer Release of Myanmar's Suu Kyi – Jay Alabaster for the Canadian Press 

• Nobel Peace Prize laureates including the Dalai Lama argued for a world without nuclear weapons Sunday at a ceremony in the Japanese city where the first wartime atomic bomb exploded 65 years ago.
• "Past is past, now we must look forward," said the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader. "We must utilize dialogue, with the spirit of reconciliation. That is the only way to solve problems. Using force is outdated."
• Jody Williams, who won in 1997 for her work to ban landmines, read a joint statement by the laureates calling for a nuclear arms ban. "Nuclear weapons cannot be disinvented, but they can and must be outlawed, just as chemical and biological weapons, landmines and cluster munitions have been declared illegal," she said.
• The annual World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates assembles past award recipients to call attention to their achievements and push the prize's overall message of human rights and nonviolence. The previous 10 meetings were held in Europe, but organizers chose Hiroshima this year to underscore the anti-nuclear theme.

The Lighter Side

Sarah Palin vs. Admiral Mullen Over New START – Rob Diamond in The Huffington Post [link]

• This past Saturday, the former not-quite-one-term Governor of Alaska and now likely Republican presidential candidate published an "Open Letter to Republican Freshmen Members of Congress" via FoxNews.com.
• She drops the perfunctory Ronald Reagan quote, sets backs Middle-East peace negotiations by about 30 years, and then there it is, the gem: "And for those of you joining the United States Senate, don't listen to desperate politically-motivated arguments about the need for hasty consideration of the "New START" treaty. Insist on your right to patient and careful deliberation of New START to address very real concerns about verification, missile defense, and modernization of our nuclear infrastructure. No New START in the lame duck!"
• It's the "desperate politically-motivated arguments" part of her statement that I find the most interesting, because one of the loudest voices in the past few weeks calling for the quick ratification of the new START treaty is Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. I typically do not think of Admiral Mullen--the nation's highest ranking military officer--as "desperate" or "politically motivated."
• In fact, Admiral Mullen gave a very strong speech just this past Friday at Stanford University's Hoover Institute where he unequivocally stated his support for the new START treaty because its the right thing for the safety of our country. The Chairman, a 42-year veteran of the US military, said: "I believe, and the rest of the military leadership in this country believes, that this treaty is essential to our future security. I believe it enhances and ensures that security. And I hope the Senate will ratify it quickly."
• So there you have it. Sarah Palin--the less than one term Governor of Alaska and reality TV star--who is opposed to a vote on the new START treaty; versus, Admiral Mike Mullen--a four-star Admiral, the nation's highest ranking military officer and a 42-year veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces--who has stated that ratification of this treaty is critical to the long term security of the United States.
• Which one are you listening to when it comes to keeping America safe? Hey Senate, here is a hint--my money is not on Sarah Palin.