Some events of note from our friends at the Nuclear Calendar
| March 25 |
3:30-5:30 p.m., House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, hearing on missile defense, with Elaine Bunn, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear and Missile Defense Policy; Lt. Gen. David Mann, Commander, U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command; and Vice Adm. James Syring, Director, Missile Defense Agency. 2118 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington. Webcast on the committee website. |
| March 31 |
National Nuclear Security Administration submits to Congress an annual report on its plutonium “pit” production plan (Senate Report 108-105, p. 110). |
While Matt Kroenig writes that increasing our arsenal is the solution to an uncertain future- history seems to be moving in the other direction. The idea that Reagan spent the Soviets into ruin is questionable (see atomic audit) but we might have the chance to do the opposite now – we need to cut budgets we could slash our nuclear spending and leave the Ruskies holding a very expensive bag. (zero sum power?) I think we’ve seen that economic stability and growth are a ‘weapon’ we actually get to use in international politics while our aging nuclear weapons are the opposite.
I think it was Jeff Lewis that told me that “Unilateral Disarmament” is one of the phrases to avoid at all costs. That said, Thomas Schelling keeps saying that if you want to make a credible deterrent threat you should threaten with conventional weapons. They are the weapons that you are actually going to use. It turns out that what will realistically happen is correlated closely with credibility. When the Hawks talk about updating the arsenal (see b-61) two subjects not mentioned are utility of nuclear for almost all missions and credibility of nuclear for almost all missions.
If the U.S. is serious about diminishing the role of nuclear weapons in the world, one way is to diminish the number and type of weapons that we field. The PNI’s were a success. It is possible to lead and allow the international community to follow. It is time to look beyond the cuts required under New START. This may mean getting a head start on the Russians- and given the current geopolitical situation we might imagine nuclear cuts taking a back seat.
For all the scholars working on Russian and former Soviet Union nonproliferation issues here is a great resource: The James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute for International Studies has a “Comprehensive Guide to Online Resources for Russian Nonproliferation Research” here: http://cns.miis.edu/edu/pdfs/russian_np_research_guide.pdf
Some of the Sp403 team are heading to OakRidge for a few days. We’ll have a full write up when we get back.
best.
The folks out at Monterey have a neat opportunity for students interested in nuclear safeguards policy. It is definitely worth checking out, Monterey is a beautiful place and the Institute has some phenomenal scholars.
information here and here about their summer program.
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The Monterey Institute of International Studies(MIIS) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, in support of the U.S. Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration’s Next Generation Safeguards Initiative, are pleased to announce the availability of up to six paid summer internships at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California.
Eligible students for this outstanding, competitive internship opportunity should demonstrate an interest in:
- pursuing a professional career in nuclear nonproliferation and nuclear safeguards;
- acquiring practical experience on nuclear nonproliferation, safeguards and security policy issues as they are addressed at US national laboratories;
- contributing to the capability of the national laboratories to perform and complete tasks and analyses related to nuclear safeguards.”
International Security Policy Scholars 