White House Puts Money for New Bombs Ahead of Nonproliferation

July 30, 2014 | Edited by Lauren Mladenka and Geoff Wilson

Money not put where threats are - “Since the start of his presidency, Barack Obama has been clear that one of his major goals was to secure nuclear weapons and materials, and as recently as March, at the Nuclear Security Summit in Holland, the president declared that ‘it is important for us not to relax but rather accelerate our efforts over the next two years.’ Instead, to little notice, the administration has decided to spend money at an even greater rate than before to refurbish and modernize nuclear weapons while slashing the amount it is spending to prevent terrorists from making their own.”

--“The administration in its proposed 2015 budget chose to cut nuclear nonproliferation programs in the Energy Department by $399 million while increasing spending on nuclear weapons by $534 million. In addition, despite missing a self-imposed deadline of April 2013 for ensuring that nuclear materials were safe from terrorists across the globe, the White House at about the same time rejected a confidential Energy Department-sponsored plan to accelerate those efforts by 2016, the year Obama is slated to convene a fourth international summit on the issue.”

--“As they were putting the administration’s budget together, there were debates,” said Matthew Bunn, a former White House official and professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. “Should they provide more money for nonproliferation, or more money for weapons? It’s clear that weapons won that debate.” Read the full analysis from Douglas Birch for the Center for Public Integrity here. http://bit.ly/1nTySRs

Check the budget math - The Nuclear Threat Initiative has a new, comprehensive database on threat reduction program budgets from 1992 to present - including data on recent trends in nonproliferation funding. Access the Interactive Budget Database here. http://bit.ly/XeRJeB

Be more like Reagan - “Russia has violated an arms control treaty,” write Joe Cirincione and Lauren Mladenka for Defense One. “It is not the first time they – or we – have done so. The key now is to get them back in line and prevent them from fielding any new nuclear missiles that would threaten our closest allies. Some arms control critics want to use the issue as an excuse to jettison a system of arms restraints carefully constructed over the decades. Before letting loose the wrecking ball, they should check in with one of the principal architects of the regime and one of the toughest and most pro-arms control presidents in U.S. history: Ronald Reagan.”

--“This is, after all, an apparent violation of a treaty that President Reagan negotiated with then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Their 1987 Intermediate Nuclear Forces, or INF, Treaty banned all ground-based short, medium and intermediate-range nuclear-armed missiles. These are missiles between 500 and 5,500 kilometers range. United States officials say they have compelling evidence that Russia tried to test secretly a cruise missile at ranges prohibited by the agreement. We caught them. But does this mean the treaty didn’t work?”

--“Reagan’s INF treaty has been one of the most successful treaties in history. It was the first to reduce, rather than limit, nuclear weapons. And it did so in dramatic fashion, eliminating an entire class of nuclear weapons with the verified destruction of 2,692 missiles by the implementation deadline of June 1991… This still makes sense today. Pulling out of a treaty that blocks the Russians from deploying weapons that we don’t have and don’t need would be foolish.” Full story here. http://bit.ly/1n2PBf1

Tweet - @Gottemoeller: This is a very serious matter which we have attempted to address with Russia for some time now. The US is committed to the viability of INF.

Applying pressure - “Let's get this out of the way first: The decision to accuse Russia in print of violating the 1987 INF Treaty is not about Ukraine,” writes Jeffrey Lewis in Foreign Policy. “Putin certainly hasn't done himself any favors in recent months, of course, but American concerns about Russia's compliance have been building for a long time.”

--“Putting public pressure on Russia is the right strategy, but sometimes the right strategy still falls short. The Russians would like to have intermediate-range nuclear forces, but without taking the political hit for withdrawing from the treaty. Keeping things quiet lets Russia violate the treaty, but without paying any political or diplomatic costs.”

--“The Russians hate having to talk about this in public. When Ivo Daalder raised the issue at the Munich Security Conference, Lavrov fumed. Making an issue of Russia's R-500 forces Moscow to choose between its new cruise missile and its propaganda line about the threat from NATO. Russia might ultimately withdraw from the INF treaty anyway, but at least it will be clear who's undermining stability and security in Europe.” Full piece here. http://atfp.co/1lSQtmU

Tweet - @tparsi: Wendy Sherman on #irantalks: “This is not about trust or illusions. This is about verification. This is about monitoring [and] inspections”

Pushing through - “The lead U.S. nuclear negotiator declined to give a final deadline on Tuesday for negotiating a final nuclear agreement with Iran, but said participants mean to finish the international talks at the end of the current four-month extension,” writes Patricia Zengerle in Reuters.

--"Our intent is absolutely to end this on Nov. 24 in one direction or another. But what I can say to you is we will consult Congress along the way," Wendy Sherman, the under secretary of State for political affairs, said at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. Full article here. http://reut.rs/1s2LzcT

Noninterference - “There is little faith on Capitol Hill that the administration's negotiations with Iran will thwart its nuclear-weapons objectives—but there also appears to be little appetite to interfere,” writes Stacy Kaper in The National Journal. “Senate Foreign Relations Committee members, many of whom were pushing legislation earlier this year to impose additional sanctions on Iran if nuclear talks fail, laid out several misgivings with the state of negotiations Tuesday. But the panel's leaders stopped short of threatening to meddle with legislation to rein in the administration's leeway to waive sanctions or to dictate the terms of a deal with Iran.”

--“Instead, at a hearing on the state of negotiations with State and Treasury department officials, committee members expressed frustration with the four-month extension to continue negotiating with Iran, distrust in Iran's commitment to upending its path to nuclear weapons, and concerns about the administration's tactics.” Read the full story here. http://bit.ly/1ldbxEC

Numb on N. Korea - “Amid concerns about its development and testing of nuclear weapons, North Korea may be lulling the world into largely accepting its advances in missile technology, the admiral in charge of American forces in Asia and the Pacific said Tuesday. Adm. Samuel Locklear told a Pentagon news conference that he is concerned by North Korea's frequent testing of ballistic missiles.”

--“North Korea often test-fires missiles, artillery and rockets, but the number of weapons tests it has conducted this year is much higher than previous years… Locklear said he worries that ‘you become somewhat numb’ to reports of another North Korean missile test, adding, ‘you start to say, well, it's not such a big deal.’” Full report from Robert Burns and Lolita C. Baldor for the AP here. http://abcn.ws/1rG7Qet

MOX denunciation - “A group that monitors the Savannah River Site denounced the Site’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, or MOX program, as well as the potential plans to send German shipments of nuclear [waste] to the Site.”

--“We are deeply concerned that the mismanaged MOX program continues apace though it is very unclear if the MOX program can be funded in a sustainable fashion, if the plant as designed by AREVA can ever operate and if any MOX customers can be found,” SRS Watch director Tom Clements wrote in the letter. Derrek Asberry has the story in The Star. http://bit.ly/1ob88WB

Quick-hits:

--“US Treasury: Iran Remains in Economic Hole” in The Iran Primer. http://bit.ly/1lW9XXB

--“Welcome To The Nuclear Command Bunker” by Geoff Brumfiel in NPR. http://n.pr/1rNoFaH

--“US Calls on Moscow to Get Rid of Banned Arms” from AFP. http://bit.ly/1rG7mVD

--“Last Crew Member of Enola Gay Dies in Georgia” by Kate Brumback for AP. http://abcn.ws/1k5XaGY

Events:

--“Nuclear Security Cuts: Why Now, What’s at Stake, and What’s Next?” Lunch briefing with Matthew Bunn and William Tobey. July 31 from 12:30 to 1:30 at 1747 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 7th floor. RSVP by email to osh_burek@hks.harvard.edu

--“Hiroshima Peace Commemoration.” Sponsored by the DC Hiroshima-Nagasaki Peace Committee. August 5 at 6:30 at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, 1964 Independence Ave., SW, Washington.

--“The Nuclear Zero Lawsuits: Why the Tiny Marshall Islands Took on the Nuclear Nine.” Discussion with Rick Wayman, Neisen Laukon, and Erica Fein. August 6 from 3:00 to 4:00. Registration for online webinar available here. http://bit.ly/1k8nf8p