Senior Policy Director Alexandra Bell spoke to Inkstick about her impressions of the Trump-Kim summit.
“The principles outlined in joint statement are reiterations of previous public lines and there is a commitment to commence technical talks. That’s good. Of course, as with all things, the devil is in the details. A verifiable disarmament treaty will be a hard-fought achievement and both sides will have to bend. …
Even with positive momentum coming out of the summit, I am concerned that the president and his administration is setting an almost impossibly high bar for this process and is not relying on the full complement of experts available to them.
I recently asked a senior government official about who would be running the process of negotiating a new nuclear deal with Iran. The response was, “Secretary Pompeo.” By my count, that’s two extremely complicated nuclear negotiations for a man with no fulsome diplomatic experience or specialized nuclear policy background.
It’s my hope that the administration will unleash its technocrats and buckle down for the complicated process ahead of us.” Read more
