Sens. Levin & King: Don’t Undermine the Iran Deal with Sanctions

On the radar: Giving talks a chance to succeed; Concern over ICBMs; Worrying about the bomb again; Ross on the state of play; Fissile materials security; Sanctions violations; and Unlawful possession of “WMD.”

January 27, 2014 | Edited by Geoff Wilson and Benjamin Loehrke

Negotiations or military strikes - “There are only two ways to keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon: negotiations or military action,” write Sens. Carl Levin (D-MI) and Angus King Jr. (I-ME) for The New York Times. “Amazingly, after 34 years of mostly diplomatic silence between Iran and the United States, we are in the midst of just such negotiations, with the potential to eliminate the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran.”

-- “Instead of cautiously welcoming this development and letting these talks play out over the next six months... proposals are circulating in Congress that seek to impose additional sanctions in the middle of the negotiations. This step, we fear, risks scuttling the process and could have damaging ramifications for the United States as well as our regional allies and partners, especially Israel… We don’t know whether Iran can be persuaded to peacefully give up its nuclear weapons ambitions — but it is very much in our interest to give this diplomatic process every chance to succeed.” http://nyti.ms/1f1VYyh

Tweet - @ThomasErdbrink: Next Iran nuclear talks to be held "between 10 to 20 February in New York," Iran government news agency quotes "insider" as saying.

Root causes - “In taking a deep look at trouble inside U.S. nuclear forces, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is searching for the root causes of recent Air Force missteps but also for ways to make the nuclear warrior's job more attractive at a time when the military has turned its attention away from such weapons,” writes Robert Burns for the AP.

--“On Friday he put the magnitude of the Air Force's nuclear responsibilities in stark terms, quoting President John F. Kennedy who said in 1963 that nuclear airmen ‘hold in their hands the most awesome destructive power that any nation or any man has ever conceived.’ And so it is worrisome, Hagel said, to realize that some of those same airmen may use drugs, cheat on their proficiency tests and have engaged in other dangerous misbehaviors.” Full story here. http://abcn.ws/1mNXO7m

Nuclear force troubles - Read the full recap of the latest nuclear security lapses as reported by the AP here. http://apne.ws/M4Axmf

Deep concerns - “Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on Friday he was "deeply concerned," over the health of U.S. nuclear forces after the drug and cheating scandals this month, and that some nuclear officers felt their mission was taken for granted during 13 years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq,” write David Alexander and Phil Stewart for Reuters. “Hagel said the high-level reviews he ordered on Thursday would look at the overall culture of the U.S. nuclear forces and the problems that have surfaced in recent months and devise a way forward.” http://reut.rs/1f1UdRD

Nuclear insecurity - “How I Learned to Start Worrying…” MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow talks with Joe Cirincione about the security breaches at nuclear weapons facilities and the current crisis in the ICBM force. Video here. on.msnbc.com/1fdf8lv

--See Also: “Nuclear Titanic” by Joe Cirincione in The Huffington Post. http://huff.to/1eYXAHy

Giving negotiations a chance - “Congress would not adopt the new sanctions during the life of the Joint Plan of Action, but the Hill would know that the administration is preparing the ground to increase the pressure in a meaningful way—and so would the Iranians, our partners and the international private sector, which is exploring the new business climate in Tehran. We would be giving the negotiations a chance while denying the Iranians an excuse,” writes Dennis Ross in Politico, offering a potential way to reconcile White House’s and Congress’ positions on Iran sanctions. http://politi.co/1n71tQF

Keeping U.S. leverage - “For all the problems with the new push for sanctions against Iran in the U.S. Senate, one is hardly new: the growing efforts to place limits on the president’s authority to lift sanctions,” write Tyler Culis and Jamal Abdi for CNN. “Increasingly, Congress has circumscribed the executive’s negotiating leverage by providing only limited authorities for the president to waive sanctions, upping the political cost of doing so, and requiring Congress’s approval before any permanent sanctions relief is granted.”

--“Congress’s efforts are particularly frustrating because the United States actually does have significant leverage. The potential for Iran to rejoin and reintegrate with the global economic and financial system after decades of relative isolation is an enticing prospect for Tehran… However, while the United States holds this card, it can play it only insofar as Iran has confidence in the White House’s ability to follow through on any deal… Ultimately, at a time when Iran’s leadership has signaled full support for its own negotiators, it would be lamentable if Congress failed to do the same for our own.” Full story here. http://cnn.it/1bsyvCx

Nuclear security - “A nuclear-security expert is calling on the U.S. government to better regulate the private-sector transport of radiological sources that could be seized by terrorists,” reports Rachel Oswald for Global Security Newswire. “‘Given the scale of damage that a 'dirty-bomb' could cause, it's difficult to understand why there are still no armed escorts required for [radiological material] transports,’ said Tom Bielefeld, a physicist and security-policy expert at the Harvard University.” Read the full report here. http://bit.ly/1d4MPkz

--“Mexico’s stolen radiation source: It could happen here,” by Tom Bielefeld for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. http://bit.ly/1f2oMFp

Events:

--”Resolved: The United States Should Modernize Only One Leg of the Nuclear Triad.” Debate with Christopher Preble and Elbridge Colby. Jan. 27th from 6:00-8:00 at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. RSVP here. http://bit.ly/L7utt2

--”A Conversation with Senator Angus King” Featuring Sen. King (I-ME). Jan. 28th at 8:30-9:30am at the Council on Foreign Relations. http://on.cfr.org/1fqk8kZ

--”Implementation of the Iran Nuclear Deal.” Hearing of the House Joint Subcommittee Hearing, featuring Mark Wallace, Gregory Jones, Olli Heinonen, and David Albright. Jan. 28th at 2:00 pm in Rayburn 2172. http://1.usa.gov/1c7lQZM

--50th anniversary of the release of “Dr. Strangelove: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.” January 29, 2014.http://bit.ly/1gjkC0Z

--”Recommendations for a Final Deal with Iran” featuring David Albright. Jan. 29th from 1:00-2:30 PM at George Washington University. http://bit.ly/1i3L641

--"Solving Today’s Nuclear Nightmares." featuring Joseph Cirincione. Feb. 3rd at Noon-1:30 PM at George Washington University. RSVP here. http://bit.ly/1b0Ncgf

Dessert:

Prohibited bday gifts - “The State and Treasury departments are investigating whether Dennis Rodman broke the law on his most recent trip to North Korea,” writes Julian Pecquet for The Hill. “The former basketball star reportedly offered luxury gifts to North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un for his 31st birthday, including expensive whiskey and a fur coat for his wife. The gifts would violate the 2010 International Emergency Economic Powers Act, as well as several United Nations sanctions.” Full report here. http://bit.ly/1f6xL8q

Definitional problems - A Penn State student was arrested on Friday for “unlawful possession or manufacture of weapons of mass destruction.” Police raided Vladislav Miftakov’s apartment, suspecting it to be a marijuana growing operation, and also found bomb-making paraphernalia.

--”There's no indication that the student had anything nuclear or radioactive,” reports NBC News. Yet the paraphernalia, said to be purchased from Amazon.com, might be enough to fit into the expansive legal definition of WMD. http://nbcnews.to/1lgLq4j