Obama Will Make Historic Visit to Hiroshima

Obama Hiroshima-bound - “President Obama will visit Hiroshima, Japan after the conclusion of the G-7 Summit later this month… He will share his reflections on the significance of the site and the events that occurred there. He will not revisit the decision to use the atomic bomb at the end of World War II. Instead, he will offer a forward-looking vision focused on our shared future,” writes Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes in a post on Medium.

--“The President’s time in Hiroshima also will reaffirm America’s longstanding commitment  —  and the President’s personal commitment  —  to pursue the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons. That commitment has guided our efforts to promote non-proliferation and nuclear security  —  a theme at the heart of four Nuclear Security Summits that the President hosted  — and to take concrete steps to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in our security and in the policies of other global powers.” Full announcement here. http://bit.ly/1WlClsD

Tweet - @ArmsControlWonk: In August, I reflected on the experience of visiting Hiroshima and what @POTUS might learn there. Glad he's going. http://atfp.co/1MVDhOL

Setting the record straight on the Iran Deal - The controversial New York Times Magazine story on White House adviser Ben Rhodes misrepresented the campaign for the Iran Deal, Ploughshares Fund President Joe Cirincione writes in Politico. “Rhodes, whom I know, is very talented, but he is no modern-day Rasputin casting a spell over Obama, the press and public. The truth is that [article author David] Samuels used his access to Rhodes to attack a deal he never liked and publicly campaigned against.”

--“One of Samuels’ biggest fallacies is his claim that the world’s leading nuclear policy and national security experts were duped by Rhodes, the deputy national security adviser whom Samuels portrays as a digital Machiavelli spinning gullible reporters and compliant experts into accepting a bad deal… He claims that in the spring of 2015, ‘legions of arms-control experts began popping up at think tanks and on social media and then became key sources for hundreds of often-clueless reporters.’ This is utter nonsense.”

--“In various meetings, outside experts would exchange views with officials. We would debate, often pushing the officials to modify their position. In the end, experts supported this deal because it was a damn good deal.” Military and intelligence leaders, senior diplomats, religious leaders, scientists and members of Congress supported the agreement. “It is absurd to believe that all these officials and experts were duped. They supported the deal because it was the most promising path to preventing an Iranian bomb.” Full article here. http://politi.co/1OcIVz6

See also - “Samuels, Rhodes, and the Iran Deal: Consider the Source,” by Derek Davison for LobeLog. http://bit.ly/1WlGblk

NATO weighs in on the nuclear cruise missile - “Nuclear air-launched cruise missiles have remained outside of past arms control agreements like the New START treaty… To begin the process of exploring potential reactions to U.S. decisions regarding the future of its nuclear armed cruise missile investments, I conducted personal interviews from 2015 to early 2016 with government officials, current and retired military leaders, and think tank and academic experts in Europe and East Asia,” writes Christine Parthemore in a post on Medium.

--“Across both NATO countries and East Asian allies, government officials conveyed high confidence that the U.S. extended deterrent on which they rely will remain strong whether the air leg of the American triad has or omits nuclear armed cruise missiles in the future... All government officials and non-governmental experts interviewed were open to the idea of the U.S. president ceasing the replacement program for the air-launched cruise missile. Most openly welcomed it.” Full article here. http://bit.ly/27azrdU

Evaluating disarmament proposals - “At the beginning of the second session of the OEWG, several proposals for starting negotiations of a new international treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons were put forward. Nine states from Nuclear Weapons Free Zones – Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, and Zambia – submitted a proposal to convene a negotiating conference in 2017 for a legally-binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons,” according to a press release from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

--“Another proposal, from the 127 endorsers of the Humanitarian Pledge, also calls for the urgent pursuit of a new treaty to prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons.” Similar proposals came from the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, Mexico, Nicaragua and Pacific island states. “As more proposals are expected to be made during the second week of the UN working group, it’s clear that the majority of the world’s government want to negotiate a new treaty that would prohibit nuclear weapons.” Full statement here. http://bit.ly/26TwgY7

Tweet - @SecDef19: The climate change threat no one is talking about: Nuclear war http://huff.to/1WV9yKr #nuclearbrink #climatechange

Commitment needed on North Korea - “The only real prospect of persuading North Korea to change direction is by engaging with the regime on the issues that are driving it towards nuclear weapons, and to show that changing direction can bring substantial benefits. In other words, there is a need to return to negotiations and to discuss incentives as well as sanctions,” writes John Carlson for The National Interest.

--“North Korea has to understand that the international community will not accept it as a nuclear weapon state. If North Korea is absolutely determined to be a nuclear weapon state then negotiations cannot succeed. On the other hand, it is unrealistic to demand that North Korea relinquishes its nuclear program in the near term. Engagement can start a process of building the trust needed for eventual denuclearization.” Full article here. http://bit.ly/1UPPdWU

See also - “North Korea says to push nuclear program, defying U.N. sanctions,” by James Pearson for Reuters. http://reut.rs/23A7CqS

Quick Hits:

--“A Better, Not Fatter, Defense Budget,” by The New York Times Editorial Board. http://nyti.ms/1WjV5Zq

--“Kim Jong Un says North Korea won’t use nuclear weapons first,” by Eric Talmadge for AP. http://wapo.st/1T5ZEWS

--“This is What Nuclear Fallout Could Look Like,” by Emiko Jozuka for Motherboard. http://bit.ly/278Fy2o

--“Nuclear upgrade is waste of money,” by Tom Krebsbach for The Seattle Times. http://bit.ly/24HN9X9

--“Obama should listen to and learn from Hiroshima survivors,” by Arnie Alpert for the Concord Monitor. http://bit.ly/1SWqnTZ

--“U.S. Policy Puts Iran Deal at Risk,” by Roger Cohen for The New York Times. http://nyti.ms/1UPK4xV

--“Obama to Hiroshima: Actions, Not Words,” by Lisbeth Gronlund for the Union of Concerned Scientists. http://bit.ly/1qbtQlV

Events:

--“Book Launch: The Lure and Pitfalls of MIRVs: From the First to the Second Nuclear Age,” with eight speakers. May 16 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Stimson Center, 1211 Connecticut Ave. NW, Eighth Floor, Washington. RSVP online. http://bit.ly/1UvRS7U

--“The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty at 20: Prospects for Ratification and the Enduring Risks of Nuclear Testing,” with Daryl Kimball, Arms Control Association; Scott Kemp, MIT; Gary Samore, Harvard University. Sponsored by the Arms Control Association and American Academy of Arts and Sciences. May 19 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at 136 Irving St., Cambridge, MA. RSVP here. http://bit.ly/21zQan7

--“The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty at 20: Prospects for Ratification and the Enduring Risks of Nuclear Testing,” with Rose Gottemoeller, undersecretary of state for arms control and international security; Siegfried Hecker, Stanford University; Arun Rath, WGBH and NPR; Robert Rosner University of Chicago; and Lassina Zerbo, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization. May 19 at 6:00 p.m. Livestream at James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, 1400 K St. NW, Suite 1225, Washington. RSVP online. http://bit.ly/1UBws9q

--“Budget Futures: Some Assessment of the Nuclear Enterprise and Missile Defense,” with Todd Harrison, Center for Strategic and International Studies, and Evan Montgomery, Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment. Part of the Huessy Congressional Breakfast Series. May 26 at 8:00 a.m. at the Capitol Hill Club, 300 First St. SE, Washington. RSVP online. http://conta.cc/25ULZFH

--“Global Nuclear Challenges and Solutions for the Next U.S. President,” with Benjamin Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor to the President, and Setsuko Thurlow, Hiroshima atomic bomb survivor, and seven other speakers. June 6 from 9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Carnegie Endowment, Root Room, 1779 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington. RSVP online. http://bit.ly/23rIEK8