Non-Proliferation

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on Thursday kept its metaphorical Doomsday Clock at two minutes to midnight, citing continuing aggressive posturing by nuclear-armed nations. “The risks associated with nuclear weapons, over the long term, are increasing for three reasons: expensive programs to modernize nuclear arsenals, expansive nuclear doctrines, and a decisive turn away from […]

WASHINGTON — The United States still intends to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty next week, unless Russia destroys weapons the Trump administration says violate the Cold War accord, a senior State Department official told reporters here Thursday. The administration says Russia can only verify its compliance with the INF Treaty by destroying weapon […]

Two coalitions of universities will develop materials-detection technology and help improve U.S.-led monitoring of global nuclear fuel cycles over the next five years, under separate grants from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) worth $25 million each. The grants are worth $5 million per year over half a decade, the NNSA said in a press […]

Two coalitions of universities will develop materials-detection technology and help improve U.S.-led monitoring of global nuclear fuel cycles over the next five years, under separate grants from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) worth $25 million each. The grants are worth $5 million per year over half a decade, the NNSA said in a press […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation plans to continue its relationship with the Washington, D.C.-based Stimson Center for another five years, under a high-level education and public relations contract announced this week. The contract, yet to be awarded, will sustain “ongoing work that is intended to improve the strategic dialogue […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation plans to continue its relationship with the Washington-based Stimson Center for another five years, under a high-level education and public relations contract announced this week. The contract, yet to be awarded, will sustain “ongoing work that is intended to improve the strategic dialogue and […]

Congress would have to affirmatively, rather than tacitly, approve any agreement to allow exports of U.S. nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia, under bills introduced in both chambers Tuesday by a bipartisan group of lawmakers. Sens. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) introduced the No Nuclear Weapons for Saudi Arabia Act in the Senate, while […]

The White House this week released what it says is the first comprehensive strategy for countering weapons of mass destruction (WMD) by terrorists, including radiological and nuclear threats. The 22-page document eight lines of effort to guide policy and operations, covering capabilities including intelligence collection, technical detection, law enforcement, and various databases “to track the movement of […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Dec. 7 it helped send more than 1 kilogram of highly enriched uranium back to China from the Nigerian Research Reactor-1 at Ahmadu Bello University near Zaria, Nigeria. The semiautonomous Department of Energy agency worked with the Chinese government and the U.N.-chartered International Atomic Energy Agency to repatriate […]

The White House on Monday released what it says is the first comprehensive strategy for countering weapons of mass destruction (WMD) by terrorists, putting the focus on deterrence, detection and disruption. In a preface to the National Strategy for Countering WMD Terrorism, President Trump says the strategy has three main elements. “First, the United States will […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Friday it helped send more than 1 kilogram of highly enriched uranium back to China from the Nigerian Research Reactor-1 at Ahmadu Bello University near Zaria, Nigeria. The semiautonomous Department of Energy agency worked with the Chinese government and the U.N.-chartered International Atomic Energy Agency to repatriate the […]

WASHINGTON — The day the United States said it could leave the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty by early February, hawkish think-tankers and former government officials shared weapons shopping lists for the post-treaty world — which in one case included in-theater nuclear missiles. The defense hawks spoke on a panel hosted by the Air Force […]

WASHINGTON — The day the United States said it could leave the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty by early February, hawkish think-tankers and former government officials shared weapons shopping lists for the post-treaty world — which in one case included in-theater nuclear missiles. The defense hawks spoke on a panel hosted by the Air Force […]

Three Democratic senators on Monday appealed to President Donald Trump to confer with Congress before formally withdrawing from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Sens. Bob Menendez (N.J), Jack Reed (R.I.), and Mark Warner (Va.) communicated their concerns in a letter first reported by Politico. In October, Trump announced the United States would cease complying with […]

Lawmakers set the stage for the nuclear weapons debate to come in the next Congress with a wave of bills and rhetoric that burned the post-Thanksgiving fog from Washington this week. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) — upon whom partisans and the press have heaped presidential buzz — provided a capstone Thursday with a speech at […]

A bill introduced Wednesday by Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), and supported by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), would prohibit the Trump administration from extending the primary U.S.-Russia nuclear arms-control treaty beyond 2021 without renegotiating the deal to curtail shorter-range Russian missiles.  The ‘‘Stopping Russian Nuclear Aggression Act’’ would prohibit the executive branch from spending any money […]

Matthew Beinart Defense Daily Officials from the State Department and Pentagon briefed international partners last month on the potential U.S. withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty with Russia, with the U.S. delegation citing support from NATO and ally officials on the decision. Andrea Thompson, the State Department under secretary for arms control and […]

Withdrawing unilaterally for the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty “threatens a nuclear arms race” with Russia, the top Democrats on the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees wrote in a Wednesday letter to members of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet. The INF Treaty, “alongside New START Treaty, forms the basis for our strategic relationship with Russia,” according […]

President Donald Trump said Saturday the United States will cease compliance with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty because of Russia’s violation of the landmark Cold War-era accord that prohibited an entire class of nuclear weapons and sent the W84 warhead into storage. Trump spoke to reporters a day after The New York Times reported that […]

Walking back her remarks from earlier in the day, U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison said Tuesday she did not mean to suggest the United States would pre-emptively attack any Russian missiles it believes could operate in the range prohibited by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. “I was not talking about preemptively striking Russia,” […]

Walking back her remarks from earlier in the day, U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison said Tuesday she did not mean to suggest the United States would pre-emptively attack any Russian missiles it believes could operate in the range prohibited by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. “I was not talking about preemptively striking Russia,” […]

The Donald Trump nomination has officially nominated Jeffrey Eberhardt, a career senior executive service official now serving in the State Department’s arms control bureau, as special representative of the president for nonproliferation, with the rank of ambassador. The White House sent Eberhardt’s nomination to the Senate late last week. If approved by the Foreign Relations […]

The State Department is relying in part on the Sandia National Laboratories to prioritize spending on global nonproliferation assistance programs, a senior State official said Tuesday. The New Mexico-based laboratory will help State’s bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation target financial aid to foreign countries based on the urgency of threats to the United States, […]

The Senate this week confirmed Jackie Wolcott as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency and as the U.S. representative to the Vienna, Austria, office of the United Nations. Senators approved Wolcott’s nomination Monday by a vote of 75-19. Trump nominated Wolcott, a longtime Washington hand and a seasoned diplomat with […]

The Senate late Monday confirmed Jackie Wolcott as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency and as the U.S. representative to the Vienna, Austria, office of the United Nations. Senators approved Wolcott’s nomination by a vote of 75-19. Trump nominated Wolcott, a longtime Washington hand and a seasoned diplomat with previous […]

The State Department is relying in part on the Sandia National Laboratories to prioritize spending on global nonproliferation assistance programs, a senior State official said Tuesday. The New Mexico-based laboratory will help State’s bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation target financial aid to foreign countries based on the urgency of threats to the United States, […]

The Donald Trump administration still has not decided whether to extend beyond 2021 a pivotal arms control treaty that limits the number of nuclear weapons the United States and Russia may deploy, a senior official with the U.S. Department of State said Wednesday in a Senate hearing. “A decision has not been made at this […]

NorthStar Medical Technologies said Monday it has promoted President and Chief Operating Officer Stephen Merrick into the company’s top position as president and chief executive officer. Merrick succeeds George Messina, founder of the Beloit, Wis.-based medical radioisotope manufacturer. Messina is taking the role of chairman emeritus and president and CEO of NorthStar Nuclear Therapies, a […]

On its third try, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) mapped out a classified a plan to verify and monitor global proliferation of nuclear weapons, weapon components, and fissile materials, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said Friday. Congress ordered the NNSA to create this plan in 2015 and 2017, but the agency failed both times to […]

A motor vehicle operator temporarily lost commercial driving privileges after transporting nuclear samples needed for counterterrorism training without completing the proper paperwork. The driver shipped the material Sept. 4 from the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Counter Terrorism Operations Support office in Nevada to a training facility in Hagerstown, Md., the Department of Energy  disclosed on […]