by Kingston Reif “What the super committee’s failure means for nuclear weapons,” was originally published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on December 14, 2011. On November 21, the 12-member congressional super committee announced that it failed to approve a plan to shrink the budget deficit by at least $1.2 trillion over the […]
Pruning the Nuclear Triad? Pros and Cons of Bombers, Missiles, and Submarines
By Kingston Reif, Travis Sharp, and Kirk Bansak As the United States and Russia contemplate further bilateral reductions in nuclear warheads and delivery vehicles beyond those required by New START, attention must be paid to the composition of each country’s strategic arsenal of nuclear-armed bombers, land-based missiles, and submarine-based missiles. To understand the stability that […]
Letter to the President on Nuclear Material Security and Non-Proliferation Funding
The President of the United States The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20500 Dear Mr. President: We strongly urge you to make every effort to ensure that threat reduction and nonproliferation programs are funded at the Senate Appropriations Committee-approved level in the Fiscal Year 2012 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill. Based on […]
A Certain Uncertain Certainty (Preview of U.S.-DPRK Talks)
by Duyeon Kim Also posted in the Nukes of Hazard Blog. Washington appears to be anticipating some answers from Pyongyang in talks this week in Geneva, but it might have already gotten a response – from the Dear Leader himself. A senior State Department official told reporters on background on October 19: “They (North Korea) […]
Adding Money to Weapons from Nonproliferation is a Bad Trade
by Kingston Reif On October 6 House Strategic Forces Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Michael Turner (R-OH) sent a letter signed by the Republican members of the Subcommittee to Senate appropriators asking that they fully fund the President’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 request for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) weapons activities account. Turner also sent a […]
