by Kingston Reif INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND Since withdrawing the United States from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002, the Bush administration has moved to create a missile defense system to defend against long-range ballistic missile threats from rogue states. In 2004, the United States began deploying interceptors in Alaska and California to defend against North […]
Obama vs. McCain: Seven Areas of Agreement, and Six of Disagreement, on Nuclear Weapons
by John Isaacs “We’ll have major progress on nuclear issues no matter who is elected. It debunks the common view that Obama is the most liberal Democratic senator, and it debunks the view that McCain is really the third Bush term.“- John Isaacs, Executive Director of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, as quoted […]
Time to Name a Coordinator for WMD Proliferation
by Kingston Reif Published on Nukes of Hazard blog on June 26, 2008 On June 22, the Boston Globe reported that the White House has no intention of filling anytime soon the position of U.S. Coordinator for the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism. Congress established the position within the Executive Office […]
Fact Sheet on Strengthening Arms Control and Nonproliferation
by Kingston Reif In a welcome and much-needed shift from the policies of the Bush administration, both presumptive nominees for President in 2008 have stated that they intend to strengthen the global nonproliferation regime and pursue further legally binding and verifiable reductions in the number of U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons. In order to achieve […]
Analysis of Senate Armed Services Committee Action on the FY2009 Defense Authorization Bill (S 3001)
by Christopher Hellman and Travis Sharp SUMMARY The Senate Armed Services Committee released its markup of S. 3001, the Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 Defense Authorization bill, on May 1, 2008. S. 3001, as reported to the full Senate by the Armed Services Committee, fully funds the administration’s $612.5 billion FY2009 National Defense request. S. 3001 provides […]