On the radar: Nuclear pork; Pausing the war countdown; The Times talks talks; Behind the scenes at Istanbul; North Korea censured; WaPo on Iran’s intentions; and the 2012 Truman briefing book.

April 17, 2012 | Edited by Benjamin Loehrke and Mary Kaszynski

The Doomsday Caucus - Members of Congress try to bring defense dollars into their districts - and there’s plenty of money being spent on nuclear weapons. As a result, policy decisions on nuclear weapons have to clear political hurdles set by members of Congress with nuclear interests in their home districts - the congressional ICBM coalition, the Submarine Caucus, and the Long Range Strike Caucus.

--Andrea Stone at Huffington Post looks at the congressional politics surrounding nuclear weapons policy, defense spending, and campaign contributions. http://owl.li/akW2B [1]

Crisis averted, for the moment - A few weeks ago, a confrontation with Iran seemed just around the corner. The Istanbul talks seem to have averted the conflict, at least for now, Time’s Tony Karon writes.

--“The Istanbul talks were the first hurdle on the path to a diplomatic solution...The process could yet fail at the second, or third hurdle,” Karon notes. “After all, the parties have arrived at the table bearing sharply divergent objectives and outlooks, and a deeply rooted mutual mistrust which won’t be easily bridged, particularly given the domestic political pressures on some of the key players.” http://owl.li/akVZX [2]

Welcome to Early Warning - Subscribe to our morning email [3] or follow us on twitter [4].

--Have a tip? Email earlywarning@ploughshares.org [5]. Want to support this work? Click here [6].

Tweet - @nukes_of_hazard [7]: “[House] FY13 draft E&W bill appears to support 5-year delay to CMRR-NF. Lets hope cuts to nonpro come at expense of USEC and the MOX program.”

Talking reciprocity - “Nothing is ever quick and easy with the Iranians,” but the recent talks in Istanbul were a constructive development, writes The New York Times editorial board. The Times agrees with Catherine Ashton’s emphasis on a step-by-step, reciprocal approach where Iran comes into compliance with its NPT obligations in exchange for sanctions relief.

--Proposed elements of a nuclear deal: get Iran to stop enrichment to 20%, ship 20% stockpile out of Iran, close Fordo, and cooperate with the IAEA. Absent from the editorial: examples of “diplomatic and economic incentives” that could be offered by the West as part of a deal. http://owl.li/akVY8 [8]

Diplomacy in action - After the P5+1 meeting with Iran, the talks were described as “positive” and “constructive.” During the talks, it wasn’t always clear they would turn out that way. Laura Rozen has the exclusive on how the negotiations almost broke down. http://owl.li/akVVK [9]

SASC Hearing - “NNSA Management of its national Security Laboratories” with lab directors Dr. Charles McMillan, Dr. Paul Hommert, and Dr. Penrose Albright. Dr. Charles Shank and Dr. C. Kumar Patel also testify. Wednesday, April 18 at 2:30pm. http://owl.li/ajfVx [10]

Security Council censures North Korea - The UN Security Council condemned North Korea’s attempted rocket launch as a grave security concern and violation of previous Security Council resolutions. The Council ordered its sanctions committee to “designate additional entities and items” for blacklisting. http://owl.li/akVTf [11]

Next steps - The next round of Iran talks is five weeks away, giving the West some time to discover “if the regime of Ali Khamenei genuinely wishes to strike a bargain,” writes The Washington Post editorial board.

--“Given the odds against success, and the dangers of further delay, the administration should insist that Iran spell out its intentions by next month,” the editorial concludes. http://owl.li/akVRv [12]

Truman briefing book - The Truman National Security Project released its 2012 Briefing Book - an essential handbook for national security policy and message guidance. Full book here. http://owl.li/akVPi [13]

--Nuke section (pdf) http://owl.li/akVNB [14]
--Iran section (pdf) http://owl.li/akVLw [15]