The knock on United States National Missile Defense based in Alaska and California is that it never has been proved to work in real-world situations.  Billions of dollars have been spent on that system, now called “ground-based mid-course,” but there is no sure evidence that the defense would work should North Korea launch nuclear-tipped missiles against us.

Because of the powerful political backing for the program, missile defense has avoided the commonsense “Fly Before You Buy” mantra that prevents billions from being wasted on weapons that may eventually prove ineffective.

According to a recent report by the Government Accounting Office (GAO), the government auditing agency, the Obama Administration is risking repeating history with its proposed  missile defense systems in Europe.

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missile defense, Obama administration, Iran, North Korea (all tags)

The Obama administration notified Congress today of a "a significant defense package that will promote regional security and enhance the defensive capabilities of an important Gulf partner with whom we have had a longstanding and close security relationship.”  The deal with Saudi Arabia, worth up to $60 billion, will become one of the largest-ever single US arms deals.

The State Department and Pentagon informed lawmakers that the delivery of weapons would be spread over 15-20 years.  Weapons systems include 84 new F-15 fighter jets, 70 upgrades of existing Saudi F-15s, 70 Apache attack helicopters, and 72 Black Hawk helicopters as well as a wide array of missiles, bombs, launchers and equipment.  

Andrea Shalal-Esa notes that in these tough economic times, with increasing budgetary pressure on both the US and Europe, US defense firms have begun to look to the Middle East and Asia for continued weapons sales in the coming years.  This particular deal might help to offset the UK's decision to trade its planned buy of 138 F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing versions of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter for the F-35C carrier variant.

While Congress has 30 days to block the deal, it seems unlikely that they will.  “Congress is a big place and there's a lot of members, and there may be differing opinions about the sale,” said Assistant Secretary of State for Political Military Affairs Andrew Shapiro, “but we feel comfortable that we have done adequate pre-consultations with members of Congress that there will not be a barrier to completing this sale.”

And don’t expect any flack from Israel.  While it has not been stated directly, the deal has been widely acknowledged as a move to counter the perceived threat of Iran to its neighbors.  Israel has traditionally been wary of arms sales to nearby Arab countries, but in this moment of uncertainty, the rules have changed.  Israeli strategists now predominantly consider Iran, rather than the Arab countries, to be the greatest external threat to Israel’s security.  Some rumors have even speculated that Saudi Arabia has already granted Israel permission to use its airspace in the event of an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

On the question of “where these arms may be in 10 or 20 or 30 years’ time?”  Shapiro remarked that after extensive review, the administration is, “comfortable that this sale will serve to enhance U.S. national security.”

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Iran Watch, Security Matters, Nukes on a Blog, Saudi Arabia, Obama Administration, Arms Sales (all tags)

Following an August 3 report in the Wall Street Journal, the arms control blogosphere has been buzzing about a nearly finalized nuclear cooperation agreement between the United States and Vietnam. According to the Journal, and now other outlets including The Guardian and Global Security Newswire , the U.S.-Vietnam deal has considerably weaker proliferation controls than the Obama administration has demanded in the past – specifically, the agreement would allow Vietnam to retain the right to enrich uranium.

The Risks and Benefits of Enrichment

Uranium enrichment technology has both civil and military applications: it can be used to produce fuel for nuclear power plants or fissile material for nuclear weapons. Any country that possesses enrichment facilities would be able to use this technology to jumpstart a weapons program. But any country without enrichment facilities is unable to independently produce nuclear fuel for its reactors and thus required to import fuel for its nuclear energy program.

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Nukes on a Blog, Security Matters, Obama Administration (all tags)

Center Chairman General Gard has written an op-ed on the support of military leadership for the President’s nuclear weapons agenda published today by the McClatchy-Tribune news service. The article, GOP critics vs. the Pentagon, appeared in Lexington, Kentucky in the Lexington Herald-Leader

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New START, Nuclear weapons, Obama Administration, Senate, Conservative High Jinks (all tags)

Remarks of Vice President Biden
National Defense University
Washington, DC
February 18, 2010
The Path to Nuclear Security:
Implementing the President’s Prague Agenda

Ladies and gentlemen; Secretaries Gates and Chu; General Cartwright; Undersecretary Tauscher; Administrator D’Agostino; members of our armed services; students and faculty; thank you all for coming.

At its founding, Elihu Root gave this campus a mission that is the very essence of our national defense: “Not to promote war, but to preserve peace by intelligent and adequate preparation to repel aggression.” For more than a century, you and your predecessors have heeded that call. There are few greater contributions citizens can claim.

Many statesmen have walked these grounds, including our Administration’s outstanding National Security Advisor, General Jim Jones. You taught him well. George Kennan, the scholar and diplomat, lectured at the National War College in the late 1940s. Just back from Moscow, in a small office not far from here, he developed the doctrine of Containment that guided a generation of Cold War foreign policy.

Some of the issues that arose during that time seem like distant memories. But the topic I came to discuss with you today, the challenge posed by nuclear weapons, continues to demand our urgent attention....

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Nukes on a Blog, Obama Administration, New START, CTBT, 2011 Budget Request (all tags)

We liked the speech, at least the part dealing with nuclear weapons.  Some excerpts from our press release today:

“The President deserves praise for his continued efforts to lead a bipartisan nuclear security agenda that addresses the grave threat posed by nuclear weapons,” said Lt. Gen. Robert Gard, the Center’s chairman. “As the President said, he has embraced the vision of John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan through a strategy that reverses the spread of nuclear weapons and seeks a world without them.”

Gard added, “Nearly every national security expert agrees that terrorist use of nuclear weapons against the United States is our gravest security threat. The best way to address the threat of nuclear terrorism is by securing vulnerable nuclear materials and verifiably reducing nuclear stockpiles, just as President Obama has pledged to do.”

“Today there is a growing bipartisan consensus that the current nuclear status quo is no longer tenable,” said the Center’s executive director John Isaacs. “21st century threats require 21st century solutions, and the President has already taken crucial first steps toward securing our nation from the threat of nuclear weapons.”

“These first steps, including an expected finalized new weapons reduction treaty with Russia, are important and should be applauded,” Isaacs added, “but we still have a long way to go.”

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Nukes on a Blog, State of the Union, Obama Administration (all tags)

If you're paying any attention to the news, you know that this week marks 100 days into the Obama administration. While some media is downplaying its significance in light of other events, almost everyone is talking about it.

And so are we.

Given Obama's high approval ratings - as high as 69% by some counts - most reports are providing a largely positive analysis of his first 100 days.

Some of our highlights?

•    Made public statements with Russian President Medvedev of intentions to negotiate a successor to START by the end of 2009.
•    Committed to “immediately and aggressively” pursue ratification of a Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty;
•    Sent a video message to the people and leaders of Iran, indicating a willingness for dialogue between the two countries.
•    Stated intention to host a Global Summit on Nuclear Security within the next year and secure all vulnerable nuclear material around the world within four years.

Of course, there are always some reliable adversaries and even those who would prefer not to talk about it.

But we're neither. Find the complete analysis on Obama's first 100 days from Center ED John Isaacs here.

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nukes on a blog, obama administration (all tags)