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

Stories we're following today: Friday October 29, 2010.

Lt. Gen. Jameson: ICBM shutdown had 'no real bearing on the capabilities of our nuclear forces' - Kelsey Hartigan for Democracy Arsenal [link [1]]

• Former Deputy Commander in Chief and Chief of Staff of U.S. Strategic Command, Lt. General Dirk Jameson, USAF (Ret.), once again reiterated his strong support for the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) and stressed that the computer glitch at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming that took 50 nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) temporarily offline was “nothing to be overly concerned about.”
• Prior to his STRATCOM assignment, Gen. Jameson commanded the 14,500 men and women of the U.S. 20th Air Force, and was responsible for all U.S. Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, seven major subordinate units, operational training, testing, security and readiness.
• “I represent a group of retired admirals and generals who, on a nonpartisan basis, have investigated the New START Treaty and believe that it is in our country’s vital interest to see that this treaty is ratified,” Gen. Jameson said.
• The New START Treaty has the “unanimous support of America's military leadership,” including seven former STRATCOM commanders who have assured Senators, "We strongly endorse its early ratification and entry into force."
• Note: Lt. Gen. Jameson is a member of the Consensus for American Security [2] - a Ploughshares grantee.

ICBM Episode Fuels START Debate - Laura Rozen for Politico [link [3]]

• If one is troubled by the fact that a reported hardware malfunction led the U.S. Air Force to briefly lose contact with 50 ICBM nuclear missiles over the weekend, one might lose sleep thinking about what’s happening with Russia’s nuclear arsenal. The U.S. has not had nuclear inspectors in Russia for almost a year, since the expiration of the old START treaty last December.
• Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), an arms control skeptic, sees the episode as another potential argument against the reductions in the U.S. (and Russian) nuclear arsenals called for in the new START treaty, Marc Ambinder reports.
• The ICBM episode “shows that we have significant overkill capabilities: even with the 50 missiles off-alert, we still had 400 nuclear missiles each armed with a warhead twenty times the size of the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima ready to launch in 15 minutes, plus 1,500 hydrogen bombs on submarines and bombers,” Cirincione told POLITICO Thursday.
• He added, “if things like this are going wrong in the U.S., what’s happening in Russia?” We don’t know, he continued, because U.S. inspectors “have been locked out of Russia for over 320 days now, because the Senate has failed to approve the treaty.”
• The ICBM story is a potential "game changer," the Foreign Policy Initiative's John Noonan said, as it "puts concerns about ratification squarely back on the front burner."
• Nonproliferation advocates say that shouldn't be the case.

Missile Incident Has Zero Impact on New START - Tom Collina for Arms Control Today [link [4]]

• Misinformed sources, such as Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), are claiming that the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) is somehow in trouble as a result of a recent missile communications incident in Wyoming. These claims are simply false, and the Senate should not let this incident get in the way of ratifying New START when it returns to Washington after the elections.
• "Based on our understanding of the situation right now, as the Air Force has described it, it was not a significant disruption; it was a technical problem," Defense Department spokesman Col. Dave Lapan told the Associated Press.
• The missiles in question could have still been launched if needed, and even assuming they could not, the United States had 1,900 other nuclear weapons ready to go at the time. And if improvements to the U.S. nuclear command and control system are needed, New START would not prevent them.

EU Ashton: Iran Ready For Nuclear Talks After Nov 10 - Alessandro Torello for The Wall Street Journal [link [5]]

• Iran is ready to start nuclear talks after Nov. 10, the European Union's Foreign Affairs Chief Catherine Ashton said Friday.
• Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili "is willing to agree a date and a time after the 10th of November for a dialogue," Ashton said. "We have always said that the threat of sanctions was for a purpose."
• Iran has said it wants to develop its nuclear industry to produce energy, but the European Union and the U.S. are afraid that the country is in reality aiming to create nuclear weapons.
• The EU tightened its sanctions on Iran over the summer, going beyond those imposed by the United Nations. At the same time, Ashton has been trying to resurrect diplomatic negotiations between Iran and six world powers--the U.K., France, Germany, Russia, the U.S. and China--which stalled last year.
  

The Ultimate Nuclear Test - Sergio Duarte and Tibor Tóth for Project Syndicate [link [6]]

• On 1 November, a team of over 35 experts will launch an exercise to inspect a simulated nuclear test site near the Dead Sea in Jordan—a step forward in completing the global verification system of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).
• On 12 November, the world’s Nobel Peace Laureates will hold a summit in Hiroshima to stress the priority of nuclear disarmament and affirm their commitment to promoting it.
• The very existence of these weapons aggravates three global nuclear threats – from existing arsenals (accidents, miscalculations, unauthorized use, or willful use), from their proliferation to additional states, and from their acquisition by terrorists.
• One of the most important and overdue developments in this area is the entry into force of the CTBT, which will outlaw all nuclear explosions, regardless of their size, location, or declared purpose.
• Other treaties are needed as well, especially one outlawing the production of fissile materials for use in nuclear weapons...non-nuclear-weapon states also deserve legally binding assurances against the threat or use of nuclear weapons. Moreover, there is merit in seeking additional treaties to outlaw weapons in space, establish agreed norms for missile defense, and make certain that nuclear materials and technologies are kept safe and secure.
• Together, these steps will take us far down the road to a nuclear-weapon-free world – not as an act of faith, but as a prudent investment in the peace and security of all peoples. This would be perhaps the greatest legacy we could leave for future generations.