Watch what Jon Kyl says...
John Isaacs | Feb 25, 2010 |
1 While many people were rightly upset over a recent piece in The Cable by Josh Rogin entitled "'New START" dead on arrival?" they may have overlooked some very important words by Arizona Senator John Kyl.
Kyl is the bête noire of those promoting a new nuclear reductions treaty and a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
He has sent a series of missives along with many of his colleagues raising issues such as nuclear weapons modernization and missile defense. He has also delivered a number of speeches on the same topics.
As the British would say, he is constantly throwing a spanner into the works (i.e., monkey wrenches).
But check out what Sen. Kyl said in the Rogin story:"Unless it is accompanied by a [nuclear] modernization program that satisfies the requirements of the secretary of defense, it would be very difficult for the Senate to support the new START treaty."
If that is his gold standard, then he will get his wish -- perhaps the gold, silver and bronze...
Nukes on a Blog, New START, modernization, Joe Biden (all tags)
Biden: FY 2011 Budget to Pour Money into Sustainting U.S. Deterrent
Kingston Reif | Jan 29, 2010 | 0 
You Go Joe
In his April 2009 Prague speech on a vision of a world free of nuclear weapons, President Obama vowed to purse a number of steps to reduce the dangers posed by nuclear weapons. “As long as these weapons exist,” the President added, “the United States will maintain a safe, secure and effective arsenal to deter any adversary, and guarantee that defense to our allies.”
Vice President Joe Biden takes to the page of the not-so friendly Wall Street Journal op-ed page today to outline how the Obama administration’s upcoming Fiscal Year 2011 budget, which will be released next week, will allow the U.S. to maintain a strong deterrent into the future...
Nukes on a Blog, Four Horsemen, FY 2011 Budget Request, Joe Biden (all tags)
An RRW Revival?
Kingston Reif | Aug 19, 2009 | 1
Joe Biden, Hero
By Travis Sharp and Kingston Reif
Yesterday GSN’s Elaine Grossman had a huge scoop on the ongoing debate within the Obama administration about what is required to maintain a safe, secure, and reliable nuclear deterrent. According to Grossman’s sources, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, with the support of Vice-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff James Cartwright and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, tried to revive the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) program at a National Security Council Principals’ Meeting in early June. Vice President Joe Biden was the only voice of opposition, arguing that designing and building new warheads would undermine the ambitious nonproliferation agenda laid out by the President in Prague.
As Grossman notes, this is hardly “the final word on the warhead-replacement matter.” The issue is clearly being hotly debated in the context of the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR). According to one senior Defense Department official consulted by Grossman, “It’s not clear where we’re going to go [on the warhead issue]….We need an effective stockpile [but] we haven’t got a consensus within the administration on what that means. And so I can’t say that, forever, this ‘replacement’ idea is verboten.”
The article is long, but a must read. Below are some of our reactions.
