by Robert G. Gard The Department of Defense asked the Defense Science Board to study the feasibility of an “early intercept” of ballistic missiles, a capability planned for the fourth and final developmental stage of a missile defense program designed to protect Europe from hostile ballistic missiles. The Defense Science Board is an independent Defense […]
Quote of the Day: We wanna cooperate but you’re stuck in the Cold War edition
Tauscher acknowledged there are people within the Russian government who will “never trust us” — and still have concerns about “offense and defense.”
She also suggested vestiges of a Cold War-era mentality could be a contributing factor, and ran through a potential scenario: “I’m sitting, you know, in one of their Seven Sister buildings … trying to figure out how to get my [Ministry of Defense] money, and I’ve been doing it the same old way for 25 years. Now all of a sudden somebody says, ‘We’re going to be friends with those people. You don’t have to worry about it,’ ” Tauscher said. “[I’m] sitting there thinking, what does that mean? … I need an enemy … I have to have somebody that I’m going to say: ‘This is their most recent picture on their Internet, I need to now counter this.’ Because that’s what I’ve done for 25 years.”
“I understand this,” Tauscher continued. “And every once in a while, you can imagine that these people kind of gin up their administration.”
Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Ellen Tauscher, speaking to reporters about the ongoing travails of NATO-Russia missile defense cooperation talks, January 12, 2011.
For our take on the state of the missile defense impasse, see here.
What is to be done? – The Russian Reset and Missile Defense Cooperation
Ulrika Grufman and I just published a piece on the status of NATO-Russia missile defense cooperation talks over at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation website. They’re not going well. We write:
The current impasse is particularly frustrating given that the planned European missile defense architecture is not a threat to Russia’s deterrent (at least not yet). Meanwhile, the technical and financial foundations of the system are dubious at best. As four experts aptly put it: “The tragedy, if this confrontation results in a breakdown of relations between Russia and the West, is that almost nothing that anybody claims to be worrying about is real yet.”
We conclude that despite the lack of progress to date, the two sides must try to continue to work through their differences on this issue even if not much is likely to be accomplished in 2012 given Presidential elections in both the U.S. and Russia.
Read the whole thing here.
[Paper] UNSCR 1540 & the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit: A View From Seoul
Published by 1540 Compass Winter 2012 – Volume 1 Issue 1 : UNSCR 1540 & the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit: A View from Seoul January 2012 Duyeon Kim Deputy Director of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation The Republic of Korea (ROK) has been and remains a staunch supporter of the global nonproliferation […]
Application Deadline for Fall 2012 Scoville Fellowship is January 17th!
Interested in launching (or at least dabbling in) a career in peace and security? Then you should apply for the Scoville Fellowship, a truly unique and rare opportunity for recent college graduates (and postgraduates) to spend six to nine months at a p…
