House Panel Approves Spending Extra $60 Million on Antimissile SystemFrank Munger May 19, 2014 The Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation handed out some pretty low grades today in its first-ever Report Card. The White House got a “D” and the House Armed Services Committee got a “C-” for administration’s funding requests and the committee’s […]
Fact Sheet: FY 2015 Budget Request for Replacement Nuclear Delivery Systems and Warhead Life Extension Programs
by Kingston Reif The charts below outline the FY 2015 budget request for programs at the Pentagon and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to rebuild the nuclear triad and its associated warheads and their supporting infrastructure. The charts below do not include all of the government programs associated with operating, sustaining, and modernizing U.S. […]
Economist Story on Missile Defense Quotes Kingston Reif
Star Wars 2: attack of the drones May 17, 2014 THE best time to shoot down a hostile missile is straight after take-off. During this initial “boost phase” it moves more slowly, is easier to spot (because its exhaust plumes are so hot) and presents a bigger target (having not yet ditched its first-stage fuel […]
Negotiators begin to hash out a final deal with Iran
The US and its allies are meeting with Iran this week to begin to sketch out the terms of a final deal. The five-day meeting in Vienna, Austria will be the longest since November, and could begin to shed light on potential solutions to some of the most contentious issues still left to decide.
Since the implementation of the interim deal in January, Iran has halted the most sensitive aspects of its nuclear program, reduced its stockpile of 20 percent enriched uranium, and shown willingness to compromise on issues such as plutonium output at Iran’s heavy water reactor Arak. These steps combined with positive statements from the European Union’s Catherine Ashton and Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has some hopeful that a deal might just around the corner. But with many more issues left to resolve, onlookers should restrain their “irrational exuberance” and not be surprised to see a six month extension of the talks come July.
Andrew Szarejko has a rundown of proposals for a final deal here. Some of the most complicated issues include Iran’s ongoing research and development, both on nuclear centrifuges and ballistic missile technology and the duration and timeline of both sanctions relief and ongoing restrictions on Iran.
But if and when a deal is struck, there will be heavy lifting ahead back home.
The Obama administration will be faced with the task of convincing Congress to roll back sanctions, and hardliners in Iran will oppose almost any deal that is seen as a compromise with the United States.
But there are some signs that Congress, at least, is beginning to come around to the idea of a deal. Make no mistake, even the best deal will be a tough sell on Capitol Hill, and some will continue to oppose anything short of Iran’s complete capitulation. (If you need a refresher on why that’s a stupid idea, Colin Kahl does a great job of explaining it here.) But while just a year ago, nearly any vote coming down hard on Iran would have enjoyed substantial majority support in both houses of Congress, a recent vote in the House Armed Services Committee showed a split in U.S. hardliners’ ranks.
The amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) offered by Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) expresses a nonbinding “sense of Congress” that sanctions should not be lifted unless the deal includes the complete dismantlement of Iran’s nuclear program and an end to the country’s state sponsorship of terrorism. But such ideas, which once sounded attractive to a less-informed Congress, are now largely understood to be a poison pill.
Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the ranking Democrat on the committee, spoke out strongly against the amendment.
“This is a very bad idea,” said Smith. “It completely ties the hands of our negotiators … by setting out very specific criteria that have to be met before a deal can be achieved, going well beyond the nuclear question.”
Such talk would have been political suicide just a year ago, but Democrats have largely coalesced around the President’s position, and they’ve brought some Republicans along with them.
Though the amendment ultimately passed by voice vote, the panel was clearly split.
With a rising chorus of champions and divisions on Capitol Hill, Congressional sanctions relief, once considered impossible, may now be the best course for enforcement of an eventual deal – as opposed to depending on the Obama administration’s limited (and temporary) ability to waive sanctions.
Medium.com Story on Nuclear Capability of the F-35 Quotes Center Spokesman
Can Israel’s Stealth Fighters Really Carry Nukes? By Michael Peck May 14, 2013 The F-35 stealth fighters that America is selling to Israel will be capable of carrying nuclear weapons, according to Israeli media. If Israeli F-35s can carry nukes, or if the ever-inventive Israeli defense industry can modify them to do so, then Israel […]