Political Moxie and Plutonium Pork

On the radar: The politics of staving off demise of MOX; Subs eating shipbuilding funds; Bomb, coerce, or contain; North Korea sanctions update; Sanctions testimonies; and a Botched Soviet space laser.

May 15, 2013 | Edited by Benjamin Loehrke and Alyssa Demus

Plutonium pork - Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) put a hold on the Obama Administration’s nominee for Secretary of Energy as leverage to get the administration to protect a failing nuclear project in his home state. The episode is a classic example of policymakers “working harder to protect spending in their own backyards than on solving national budget troubles,” writes Ryan Alexander.

--Sen. Graham is working to keep the $8 billion Mixed Oxide (MOX) fuel facility on budgetary life support. The program is terrible for taxpayer interests: it is more than a decade behind schedule, its costs have quadrupled, and “there is literally no market for the” fuel the facility would produce. “We don't know for certain what deal Graham made with the White House [in exchange for lifting his hold on the administration’s cabinet nominee]...but any retreat from the administration's initial request for a budget cut and alternatives study is a bad deal for taxpayers,” writes Alexander. Full story at U.S. News. http://owl.li/l3qNU

Tough choices - The Navy’s FY2014 long-range shipbuilding plan presented to Congress last week finds SSBN replacement costs will detract from the service’s ability to pay for other necessary surface fleet ships. The plan finds “if the Navy funds the SSBN(X) ‘from within its own resources,’ the program will ‘take away from construction of other ships in the battle force such as attack submarines, destroyers, aircraft carriers and amphibious warfare ships. The resulting battle force will not meet the requirements of the [2012 Navy Force Structure Assessment].”

--Instead, the Navy is trying to dodge the cost of its subs by having some other part of the Pentagon pay the bill - an unlikely scenario given tightening budgets and sequestration. Alternative solution: the administration - which has completed but not yet released a revised nuclear policy - could help rescue Navy budgets by reducing the number (and total cost) of replacement subs required. Tom Collina at Arms Control Now has the story. http://owl.li/l3lZb

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Tweet - @StephenUCS: Graham released his hold on Moniz for DOE b/c he had no support from other Sens. May hold up nominee for NNSA head, likely Madelyn Creedon.

Options and tradeoffs - “Like many foreign-policy challenges facing the United States—from Syria to North Korea—there are no good options for dealing with Iran. Understanding what the options are, including their assumptions and trade-offs, is the first step to making an informed choice,” writes Gregory Koblentz for The National Interest.

--Koblentz describes three schools of policy thought toward Iran - the bombers, coercers and containers - along with the overlap and tradeoffs between them. He suggests that, regardless of one’s preferred school of thought, three policy actions seem appropriate: prepare a new round of sanctions and outline a path for relief, make Iran more nervous about US military options, and strengthen military and economic ties with Persian Gulf states. Full post here. http://bit.ly/10pVf3u

Sanctions slowing North Korea’s program - Sanctions have “considerably delayed” North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons, according to a new UN report. The report recommends additional sanctions on entities and 12 individuals.

--The report details several methods used by DPRK to skirt sanctions including: "trade-based money-laundering via front companies and agents to pay for illicit procurements and to transfer proceeds of sales of weapons and WMD-related items; false shipping and customs declarations and the use of intermediaries to make payments either through hand carrying or wire transfers;” and the use of diplomats to carry out transactions. Louis Charbonneau and Michelle Nichols at Reuters have the story. http://owl.li/l3uqS

Capabilities - "I don't believe they have the capability to miniaturise the nuclear warhead, put it on top of the missile, work the launch and reentry problem, and target...I don't think they have been able to put the whole piece together,” said a senior US official about North Korea’s nuclear arsenal. AFP has the quote. http://bit.ly/16zD7bP

Tweet - @nukes_of_hazard: "Nuclear Security Advances Risk Ignoring Plutonium, NGO Coalition Warns." @NTI_GSN on @fmwg plutonium recommendations. http://t.co/OU6SZUZz8m

Testimony - “U.S. Policy Toward Iran.” Written statement by Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. http://1.usa.gov/14nSUpR

--Testimony of Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David S. Cohen for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. http://owl.li/l3yqV

Events:

--"Next Steps in Nuclear Arms Control,” Steven Pifer and Ted Seay. May 15 1:30-2:30pm. International Institute for Strategic Studies, London. Details here. http://owl.li/kYEqu

--"Dangerous Paths to Unconventional Nuclear Proliferation." Brian Finlay and Brian Michael Jenkins. May 15, 1:30-3:00pm @ Stimson Center. Details here. http://owl.li/kYEHN

--U.N. Security Council debates additional sanctions on North Korea. May 16, 10:00am. Webcast here. http://webtv.un.org/

--”North Korea’s Nuclear Challenge: From Brinkmanship to Diplomacy?” Joel Wit. May 16, 12:00-1:30 @ Wilson Center, Fifth Floor. Details here. http://owl.li/kYF6C

--"Strengthening ROK-U.S. Strategic Cooperation: Nuclear Governance and the North Korean Problem," Gary Samore and 12 other speakers. May 17, 9:00am-4:00pm. CSIS, B1, Conference Center. Details here. http://owl.li/kYFWU

--House Foreign Affairs Committee, markup of the Nuclear Iran Prevention Act of 2013, H.R. 850. May 22, time TBD. 2172 Rayburn House Office Building. Webcast here. http://owl.li/l3A4S

--”Options for Reducing Nuclear Arms,” Bruce Blair, Keith Payne, and Steven Pifer. Moderated by Michael O’Hanlon. May 22, 10:00-11:30am @ Brookings. Details here. http://owl.li/l3xE2

Dessert:

Tweet - @freemusicarchiv: 53 Years of Nuclear Tests as Electronic Music (via @BoingBoing). ow.ly/l26rj

Rocket + laser science = difficult - “The Laser-Toting, Secret Soviet Satellite that Never Was: Rushed production, faulty code doomed a Cold War game changer 26 years ago today,” by Amy Teitel for Ars Technica. http://ars.to/104F8J3