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

Stories we're following today, Friday, June 18, 2010: 

Preventing a Nuclear Nightmare - Senator Jeanne Shaheen in Politico [link [1]]

• For years, the United States prepared for the possibility of nuclear war against the Soviet Union. But with deterrence and arms control, our nuclear nightmare was never realized.
• Nuclear terrorism presents us with a far different challenge — but equally frightening consequences.
• The Senate can continue the momentum [of recent nonproliferation events] by passing robust sanctions on Iran and ratifying the New START Treaty.
• Ratification could build leverage to hold governments accountable and compel countries to abide by their NPT commitments. 
• To meet the threat posed by nuclear proliferation, Washington will need the support and collaboration of the international community. Success requires an intensive and sustained effort — which the United States can lead but cannot dictate.

EU Targets Iran Despite Members' Trade Ties - The Wall Street Journal [link [2]]

• European Union leaders on Thursday authorized a significant widening of the 27-nation bloc's sanctions against Iran because of concerns over Tehran's nuclear-weapons program.
• The new European measures aim explicitly for the first time at parts of the economy unconnected to Tehran's nuclear program and go well beyond curbs agreed in a more narrowly focused United Nations sanctions resolution this month.
• The measures, which brought threats of retaliation from Iran, will most affect Germany and Italy, traditionally Iran's largest trading partners in Europe as well as the biggest European investors in the Iranian economy.

Obama Is Not Working on a Secret Missile Defense Deal With Russia - Marc Ambinder in The Atlantic [link [3]]

• Matt Drudge picks up Bill Gertz's Washington Times story about how President Obama is secretly working on a missile defense deal that "many officials fear will limit U.S. missile defenses."
• No doubt that some burrowers in the Pentagon and external experts mistrust the Obama Administration's negotiations with Russia and oppose the "reset" that led to the UN sanctions against Iran.
• It's also not a secret that Russia will do everything in its power to interpret the START treaty clauses about missile defense in the way that best fits with their defense needs and internal politics.
• The talks between Undersecretary for State Ellen Tauscher and her Russian counterpart Sergei Ryabkov are about missile defense cooperation, not limiting missile defenses. Even the Bush administration also said it would explore missile defense cooperation with Russia.

Scowcroft on "Modernization for the Sake of Modernization" - Nukes of Hazard Blog [link [4]]

• Last Thursday the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held it's sixth hearing on the New START treaty with former National Security Advisers Lt. General Brent Scowcroft and Stephen Hadley.
• When asked about modernization, Scowcroft said, "I didn't use the term "modernization" in my comments. I said safe, reliable assurance."
• He went on to say, "Some things need to be modernized in order to be safe, secure and reliable. Other things don't need to be. And I would not put modernization itself as a key to what we need to -- we need to do."
• The Obama administration has signaled its commitment to continue to ensure that our weapons work the way we want them to work, as Scowcroft puts it.

On the Lighter Side

Queen Noor and A Fine Frenzy's Nuclear Non-Proliferation Tea Party - Take Part Blog [link [5]]

• In the quaint hamlet of Los Angeles, on the season's first balmy afternoon, three separate lives came together for a spot of tea and a very serious talk. Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan, songwriter Alison Sudol of A Fine Frenzy, and Jeff Skoll of The Skoll Foundation and Participant Media had only one topic in mind: nuclear weapons.
• Since the end of the Cold War, the once unavoidable issue of nukes has failed to inspire Americans to action; but after viewing Mr. Skoll’s upcoming film, Countdown to Zero, Ms. Sudol decided to make some noise.
• “I saw the film and I was sobbing,” Sudol said. “It’s shocking what could happen and how far out of control the issue is, and I was just like, ‘I have to do something.’ "
• “One of the reasons we did this movie was we felt the issue had fallen out of public consciousness, especially among younger people,” says Mr. Skoll. “We want to reach people and let them know that this issue hasn’t gone away, that it’s vitally important, that there’s something we can do about it, and that we need to start now.”
• NOTE: Countdown to Zero will be screened this Saturday at The Nantucket Film Festival.