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Ploughshares Blog: Intelligence

Priorities for Iran Talks
On the radar: Focus on the achievable; 21st century nuclear strategy; Zakaria on a compromise; The North’s ICBM development, countermeasures; Nasr, Takeyh, Perkovich and Sadjadpour; Seoul patchwork; Nuclear challenges, election year; Beware faulty intelligence; and Headline of the week. Read more »
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Posted on April 12, 2012
A War We Never Should Have Waged
The Iraq War is the greatest strategic blunder in American history. It cost our nation $1 trillion, the lives of thousands of our finest warriors, and our international credibility. It made defeating al-Qaeda harder, stopping Iran more difficult, and global security more precarious. It was not, as some now say, simply the fault of bad intelligence. Our senior officials willfully and systematically misled the American people and our closest allies on the most crucial question any government faces: Must we go to war? Read more »
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Posted by Joe Cirincione on December 15, 2011
Bush, Carl Levin, Diplomacy with Iran, Iraq, Joe Cirincione, Saddam Hussein, War Costs, Weapons of Mass Destruction, WMDs in Iraq, Intelligence
The Ed Show
Joe joins Ed Schultz on MSNBC to discuss the Obama administration's policy towards Iran. Watch the full interview below or at MSNBC. Read more »
Posted by Ploughshares Fund on January 18, 2011
Nuclear Weapons, U.S. Foreign Policy, Intelligence, Iran, Stuxnet, United States
U.S. Strategy on Iran is Working
By Joseph Cirincione The strategic calculus for dealing with Iran's nuclear program has shifted dramatically in the past month. Read more »
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Posted by Joe Cirincione on January 18, 2011
Nuclear Weapons, U.S. Foreign Policy, Proliferation, Intelligence, Iran, Stuxnet, United States
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Albright and Wit Track North Korea
Expert analysis of construction at a North Korean nuclear site has generated concern and intrigue about the North's actions, The Washington Post reports. Read more »
Posted by Reid Pauly on October 5, 2010
North Korea, Proliferation, Intelligence
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Toward a 21st Century Verification Regime
"With the December 2009 expiration of the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), the United States is unable, for the first time in more than 20 years, to conduct nuclear arms inspections inside Russia," wrote Rose Gottemoeller, Assistant Secretary of State for Verification, Compliance, and Inspection in a recent Arms Control Today article.   Read more »
Posted by Kelly Bronk on September 8, 2010
Nuclear Weapons, U.S. Foreign Policy, US–Russia, U.S. Nuclear Policy, Intelligence, United States
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Former CIA Officer Valerie Plame Wilson: "This is an issue of national security"
"We can no longer continue in this doctrine that we have used for many decades," said former CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson at the premier of Countdown to Zero in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  "The world has changed profoundly and fundamentally."  Read more »
Posted by Kelly Bronk on August 27, 2010
Nuclear States, Nuclear Weapons, U.S. Foreign Policy, Nuclear Terrorism, Proliferation, U.S. Nuclear Policy, Intelligence, Nuclear Materials, United States
Countdown to Zero Screened for Intelligence Community
Last month, the CIA and the National Counterterrorism Center co-hosted a screening of Countdown to Zero.  Countdown to Zero is a powerful new documentary about the nuclear threat and the solution: zero nuclear weapons. Read more »
Posted by Kelly Bronk on August 13, 2010
Nuclear Zero, Homeland Security, Intelligence, United States
How Iran Can Build a Bomb
By Joseph Cirincione and Elise Connor Today, U.S. President Barack Obama signs into law the next round of unilateral sanctions taking aim at Iran's energy sector. With this bill, Washington is seeking to stem what many view as Tehran's imminent nuclear future. But how imminent is that future, exactly? Read more »
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Posted by Joe Cirincione on July 2, 2010
Nuclear States, Nuclear Weapons, Intelligence, Nuclear Materials, Iran
Magnolia Pictures Releases Countdown to Zero Press Kit
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Posted by Kelly Bronk on June 9, 2010
Nuclear States, Nuclear Weapons, Nuclear Zero, U.S. Foreign Policy, Nuclear Terrorism, Proliferation, U.S. Nuclear Policy, Intelligence