Missiles & Space

by Joseph Cirincione

A joint political statement is not like an email or a newspaper column. Each word is negotiated.  That is why the April 1 statement from Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev is so remarkable.  The two leaders spoke with unusual clarity, defining intentions and joint projects.

After North Korea's rocket launch, President Obama and the UN are faced with difficult choices.  Although the U.S. and Japan called for a swift response to the launch, the Security Council has not yet acted, largely due to hesitations by Russia and China.

While the same type of rocket that can launch a satellite into space can also carry a nuclear warhead thousands of miles, Joe Cirincione said that North Korea's ballistic missile program appeared capable of carrying only a small satellite into orbi

The failure of North Korea's rocket to reach orbit Sunday buys time to address the security threat, but the launch's partial success could boost Pyongyang's sales of missile technology to Syria, Iran and others, Joe Cirincione says.  He called