Sen. Levin Urges Nuclear Reductions

June 15, 2012 | Edited by Benjamin Loehrke and Leah Fae Cochran

Levin on reductions - Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, urged the Obama Administration to “consider going far lower” than the New START ceilings. “The more weapons that exist out there, the less secure we are,” said Sen. Levin.

--Levin argued that the diminished nuclear threat allows the U.S. to reduce its nuclear arsenal and bring nuclear spending in line with tighter military budgets. Thom Shanker at The New York Times has the story.http://nyti.ms/OKNhe0

Pragmatism - In an interview with Barbara Slavin of Al-Monitor, Brent Scowcroft recommended diplomacy for Iran and non-intervention for Syria, countering recent advice from some Republican politicians and commentators.

--Scowcroft on Iran: “If some relaxation of the sanctions for a time — if we think there’s a realistic chance that you go a step farther—I would do it… I wouldn’t draw rigid rules. What we should be trying to do is to move this process along and do it in a way which achieves our objectives, which may require that Iran doesn’t feel humiliated. It’s easy to say. It’s very hard to do.” Al-Monitor has the full interview.http://bit.ly/M5uMkm

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Midgetman returns - The Air Force is considering bringing back mobile basing of ICBMs in its analysis of a Minuteman follow-on. “This is nuts,” writes Jeffrey Lewis at Arms Control Wonk.

--The last time the Air Force had this idea, in the late 1980s, “it was a nightmare” notes Lewis. Mobile ICBM basing requires a lot of land that locals are loathe to give up. Also, the 100-ton mobile launcher vehicles are expensive - previous plans would cost $52 billion in today’s dollars. That’s partially why then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney ultimately cancelled the mobile ICBM program.

--”The Hard Mobile Launcher was judged too expensive during the largest peacetime defense buildup in history with the Soviet Union as an adversary. What makes the Air Force think a neo-HML will survive our budget-constrained, post-Cold War environment?” http://bit.ly/LKVY75

Cyber - “And how ironic that the first acknowledged military use of cyberwarfare is ostensibly to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. A new age of mass destruction will begin in an effort to close a chapter from the first age of mass destruction,” writes Kennette Benedict in “Stuxnet and the Bomb” for The Bulletin. http://bit.ly/La0Wf9

Tweet - @RobertWrighter: My new Atlantic piece: Obama's Drift Toward War with Iran http://bit.ly/KGVnSE

Russia to develop bomber - Russia’s fleet of strategic bombers is aging, and Vladimir Putin has ordered that work begin to buy a fleet of new ones. The proposed new bomber - the PAK-DA - is still at the conceptual stage at this point, and it expected to enter service (optimistically) no sooner than 2025.

--It’s going to be tough for Russia to pull off this plan, given that Russia is having trouble even updating its Cold War vintage bomber fleet. Robert Beckhusen at Danger Room has the story and the requisite photo of Putin in the cockpit of a bomber. http://bit.ly/K7Jwv9

Nuclear security vs. nuclear lobby - A House bill to tighten restrictions on nuclear technology trades - that won the unanimous backing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in April - is now stalled through at least 2013. The nuclear energy industry strongly opposes the bill, and Republican leaders blocked the bill from moving to the floor. Elaine Grossman at Global Security Newswire has the story.

--Said HFAC Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, “[Leaders on the Rules Committee] say that if the House were to occasionally vote on nuclear cooperation agreements that it would clog up our legislative calendar...Well, that really doesn’t pass the laugh test, but I will leave it up to you to determine what their actual objections are.” http://bit.ly/OR376T

Deals and human rights -The U.S. should not let its abhorrence of the Iranian regime’s human rights record stop them from negotiating a nuclear deal, says George Perkovich at the Carnegie Endowment.

--Helpful and hurtful: “Chronicling Iranian government violations of universal human rights can help...Threatening or conducting warfare and coercive regime change hurts, however, for it allows security forces to justify repression in the name of protecting national sovereignty,” Perkovich argues. http://bit.ly/LRqoqx

Semipalatinsk - The Soviet Union conducted over 450 nuclear tests at Semipalatinsk in the deserts of Kazakhstan. Alex Wellerstein at Restricted Data looks at the history of the first test in 1949 and the contaminated ruins that remain at Semipalatinsk today.

--Interesting fact: President Truman first announced that the Soviets had the bomb to deny Stalin a propaganda coup. Stalin, however, had no plans to announce the Soviets had the bomb. http://bit.ly/L0TtR8