Can You Take Calls For Nuclear Disarmament Seriously Without Serious Arguments?

The article Taking disarmament seriously, as with many arms control advocacy pieces, presumes what it sets out to prove. That doesn’t work for me.  I can’t take disarmament arguments seriously without serious arguments.  Arms controllers tend to be full of “we gotta” while ignoring the “and here’s how we’re gonna” part. So in the “we [...]

Kerry Delays Vote On New START

Senator John Kerry has postponed a Foreign Relations Committee vote on the new START. The original committee vote was scheduled for Wednesday, 4 August but will now be set for sometime in mid-September. This will allow the Senate more time to review the treaty itself as well as other related supporting documents. The non-rush to [...]

Russia Balks At Another Bilateral Nuke Deal

Russia appears to be happy with their place in the nuclear world. Why is that?  Because they are satisfied with where they think new START will leave them on the strategic side vis-a-vis the U.S. and the rest of the world, and they will also be keeping their massive inventory of tactical nuclear weapons. At least that’s [...]

New START On Shaky Ground?

According to the LA Times, if new START is not ratified by the Senate, it will be for three reasons: Missile defense concerns Nuclear modernization concerns Verification concerns Not mentioned are a few other areas critics bring forward: Lack of an integrated security effect–Russia’s ten-to-one tactical nuclear weapons are ignored Lack of effect on nuclear [...]

New START: a Bi-lateral “Solution” In a Multi-lateral World?

Why do we have treaties?  There are a number of possible answers.  They could be used to codify things we were going to do anyway.  They could be used to build relationships with other nations.  They could be used to improve security or trade, or as a symbol of shared values. Does the new START [...]

Facing Reality: ‘New’ START Won’t Be Quickly Ratified

Defense News relays the obvious, which is news because expectation management is being exercised.  The administration doesn’t expect new START to be ratified quickly. I’d expect U.S. nuclear modernization and perhaps missile defense will become more closely linked to new START ratification. Months ago the administration attempted to sweeten the deal with a proposed plus-up [...]

The Mathematics of Nuclear Deterrence

Air University authors Gary Schaub and Jim Forsyth say the U.S. needs to unilaterally strip down to a nuclear arsenal of 311 weapons. Not 312, not 310: 311. The breakdown is 100 single-warhead ICBMs; 192 single-warhead sea-launched ballistic missiles, and 19 B-2s each carrying one single-warhead air-launched cruise missile. As an area code, 311 sounds [...]

The Tactical versus Strategic Distinction: It’s A Big Deal, Right?

Note: this article originally appeared in Air University’s The Wright Stuff The Tactical versus Strategic Distinction: It’s A Big Deal, Right? By Mark Stout While the wise old owl discovered it took three licks to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Roll Pop, students of national security might wonder about the arithmetic of [...]

White House Says Door Not Closed to Nuclear Warhead Replacement

Is this what they call a trial balloon? Hedging? Some sort of enticement campaign aimed to achieve ‘new’ START ratification?  All the above and more? Talk amongst yourselves…

Thinking Through Nuclear Security

Thinking Through Nuclear Security By Mark Stout Note: this article originally appeared in the 15 April 2010 edition of Air University’s The Wright Stuff. While nuclear weapons are not our future, they are in our future and will be for a very long time.  Nuclear weapons–ours and others–will go away when their value is at [...]