Non-Proliferation

Brian McKeon, the Obama Administration’s nominee to be the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, is likely to face tough questions from Republicans at his confirmation hearing Tuesday on what is believed to be Russian violations of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty. In a Feb. 20 letter to McKeon, Sens. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) and […]

Rose Gottemoeller, the acting Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, emphasized late last week that a review of potential Russian cheating on a key arms control treaty had not been concluded. Speaking at the Nuclear Deterrence Summit Friday, Gottemoeller said a “very active compliance review process” was ongoing and that the […]

A pair of key State Department arms control nominees were cleared by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday. Rose Gottemoeller, the President’s nominee to be Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, and Frank Rose, Obama’s pick to be Assistant Secretary of State for Verification and Compliance, were cleared by the committee […]

President Obama should order the nation’s nuclear arsenal off “hair-trigger,” Washington Post columnist Katrina vanden Heuvel said in a Jan. 21 column outlining “a few dramatic and long-overdue actions” Obama could announce in the State of the Union address next week. The actions could help Obama “lead more forcefully in areas vital to the country […]

Stymied by the Russians on another round of arms control talks, the Obama Administration should accelerate reductions called for in the New START Treaty and push for ratification of the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty to help keep up the momentum for his nuclear security agenda, an arms control expert with the Brookings Institution said late last […]

In a stern warning to Congress against additional Iran sanctions, President Obama drew on the Administration’s arms control and nuclear security record to bolster the case for American diplomacy with Iran in his State of the Union address last night. “American diplomacy has rallied more than fifty countries to prevent nuclear materials from falling into […]

President Obama should order the nation’s nuclear arsenal off “hair-trigger,” Washington Post columnist Katrina vanden Heuvel said in a Jan. 21 column outlining “a few dramatic and long-overdue actions” Obama could announce in the State of the Union address next week. The actions could help Obama “lead more forcefully in areas vital to the country […]

Stymied by the Russians on another round of arms control talks, the Obama Administration should accelerate reductions called for in the New START Treaty and push for ratification of the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty to help keep up the momentum for his nuclear security agenda, an arms control expert with the Brookings Institution said late last […]

In a stern warning to Congress against additional Iran sanctions, President Obama drew on the Administration’s arms control and nuclear security record to bolster the case for American diplomacy with Iran in his State of the Union address last night. “American diplomacy has rallied more than fifty countries to prevent nuclear materials from falling into […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 1/24/2014 The United Kingdom’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has concluded that reusing its separated plutonium stock as fuel for potential new reactor technology remains the preferred disposition option, according to a position paper released by the NDA this week. The position paper stressed that MOX fuel remains the preferred option for […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 5/9/2014 A controversial nuclear cooperation agreement with Vietnam was sent by the Obama Administration to Congress this week for its 90-day review. The agreement has raised questions from some lawmakers on both sides of the aisle because it lacks legally binding restrictions on enrichment and reprocessing, known as the ‘gold standard.’ […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/2/2014 Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the chair of the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, promised to fight proposed funding cuts to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s nonproliferation program during a subcommittee hearing this week, calling the reductions to the program “egregious.” The Administration requested $8.31 billion for the NNSA’s weapons […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/2/2014 The United States should scale back its ambitions to restart arms control negotiations with Russia, House Republicans told a pair of State Department officials this week at a joint hearing of House Foreign Affairs Committee panels, citing tensions over Ukraine and Moscow’s alleged violation of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty. […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 5/2/2014 Legislation introduced this week by Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and 20 other Senate Republicans designed to respond to Russia’s actions in Ukraine would terminate U.S. cooperation with parts of the New START Treaty and prohibit arms control negotiations with Moscow. In a statement, Corker said the “Russian Aggression Prevention Act […]

Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 4/11/2014 The Department of Energy requested a funding boost for weapons projects in Fiscal Year 2015 at the expense of nonproliferation and cleanup programs, Senate Appropriations Energy and Water Subcommittee Chair Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said this week, and appropriators are looking for ways to rebalance that funding. Feinstein pressed Secretary of […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 4/11/2015 Responding to Russia’s actions in Ukraine, Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) is planning to soon introduce a bill that would suspend all National Nuclear Security Administration work in Russia. The wide-ranging bill would prohibit the "contact, cooperation or transfer of technology" between the NNSA and the Russian Federal until Energy Secretary […]

President Obama should order the nation’s nuclear arsenal off “hair-trigger,” Washington Post columnist Katrina vanden Heuvel said in a Jan. 21 column outlining “a few dramatic and long-overdue actions” Obama could announce in the State of the Union address next week. The actions could help Obama “lead more forcefully in areas vital to the country […]

Stymied by the Russians on another round of arms control talks, the Obama Administration should accelerate reductions called for in the New START Treaty and push for ratification of the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty to help keep up the momentum for his nuclear security agenda, an arms control expert with the Brookings Institution said late last […]

In a stern warning to Congress against additional Iran sanctions, President Obama drew on the Administration’s arms control and nuclear security record to bolster the case for American diplomacy with Iran in his State of the Union address last night. “American diplomacy has rallied more than fifty countries to prevent nuclear materials from falling into […]

A pair of key State Department arms control nominees were cleared by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday. Rose Gottemoeller, the President’s nominee to be Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, and Frank Rose, Obama’s pick to be Assistant Secretary of State for Verification and Compliance, were cleared by the committee […]

Rose Gottemoeller, the acting Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, emphasized late last week that a review of potential Russian cheating on a key arms control treaty had not been concluded. Speaking at the Nuclear Deterrence Summit Friday, Gottemoeller said a “very active compliance review process” was ongoing and that the […]

Brian McKeon, the Obama Administration’s nominee to be the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, is likely to face tough questions from Republicans at his confirmation hearing Tuesday on what is believed to be Russian violations of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty. In a Feb. 20 letter to McKeon, Sens. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) and […]

An Obama Administration official said yesterday that the Senate was informed of a possible issue involving Russian compliance with an arms control treaty in the fall of 2010, several months before the Senate cleared the New START Treaty. Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Brian McKeon, President Obama’s nominee to be Principal Deputy Under […]

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) pushed the Obama Administration to take a harder stance against Russia’s alleged violations of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty, suggesting that not treating the violation as a “red line” reduces U.S. credibility among its allies. “I think that should be very concerning to all of us,” Rubio said at a Heritage […]

After delays because of snowy weather in Washington, D.C., the Senate could take up the nomination of Rose Gottemoeller, the Obama Administration’s nominee for Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, in the coming days. Gottemoeller’s nomination has languished in the Senate for more than a year, but Senate Majority Leader Harry […]

The Senate will vote today on the nomination of Rose Gottemoeller to be the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security after it voted yesterday to cut off debate on her nomination. The 55-45 vote yesterday  to invoke cloture and set up today’s confirmation vote came in spite of repeated Republican opposition […]

United States and Russian tensions over Ukraine are threatening to spill over into arms control efforts by the two countries. According to Russian news reports, Russia is considering disallowing nuclear weapons inspections that are part of arms control treaties with the United States, including the New START Treaty, in response to potential U.S. sanctions against […]

Russia has not directly told the United States that it could put an end to U.S. arms control inspections in response to sanctions over a disagreement about Ukraine, Deputy National Security Advisor Tony Blinken said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” over the weekend. Russian news reports had suggested that Russia could stop arms control inspections, […]

Despite tensions between the U.S. and Russia over Ukraine and reported threats from Moscow that it might bar arms control inspectors from the country over concerns about potential sanctions, the two countries are continuing to cooperate in the lead-up to the Nuclear Security Summit, a senior White House official said yesterday. Scheduled for the Netherlands […]

The Obama Administration is requesting $365.1 million in Fiscal Year 2015 for the Department of Defense’s Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction account, a $135.4 million reduction from FY 2014 funding levels that likely reflects a slow-down in nuclear security work in Russia. Funding for Nunn-Lugar work has remained relatively steady in recent years, with $446.2 million […]