U.S. Nuke Budget A “Trillion Dollar Trainwreck”

The trillion dollar trainwreck - A report from the weapons communities of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability details the problems with U.S. plans for its nuclear arsenal. “Proliferation begins at home. That has never been clearer than now, as the United States embarks on what many scientists at its nuclear weapons laboratories are calling ‘the second nuclear age.’ The United States plans to spend $1 trillion over the next 30 years to ‘modernize’ all aspects of its nuclear arsenal.”

--Trillion Dollar Trainwreck focuses primarily on the FY 2017 budget for nuclear weapons and wastes. It highlights Life Extension Programs (LEPs), proposed new production facilities, and other projects at Department of Energy sites. Most of them are completely unnecessary for national security. All of them are mismanaged, behind schedule, and wildly over budget... Failure to [address these problems] places workers, the public and the environment at ever greater risk of catastrophic consequences.” Full report here. http://bit.ly/1VnF18v

Video - Watch Marylia Kelley, executive director of Tri-Valley CAREs, speak about Trillion Dollar Trainwreck with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!. http://bit.ly/1SO1llM

Feinstein versus the cruise missile - Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) plans to block funding for the new nuclear-capable cruise missile, Aaron Mehta of Defense News reports. Feinstein “said she believes the long range standoff (LRSO) cruise missile ‘is unaffordable, and may well be unnecessary… Spending on this weapon, and the warhead, would crowd out other funding for higher national security priorities,’”

--“If Democrats regain control of the Senate in November, Feinstein could find herself in charge of the [Senate Appropriations Committee's subcommittee on energy and water development] — where should would be in a strong position to strangle funding for the LRSO. A spokesman for the senator later confirmed that Feinstein will seek to block funding for the weapon, which could cost in the realm of $20-30 billion to develop and produce.” http://bit.ly/1qrElSA

See also - “God No, America Does Not Need Mobile Nuclear Missile Launchers,” by Robert Beckhusen for War is Boring. http://bit.ly/1qUU4u9

Tweet - @ArmsControlWonk: So, 14 airmen at F.E.Warren under investigation for snorting blow and the Air Force wants to resurrect mobile ICBMs. http://bit.ly/1VZdZmT

Triad isn’t necessary - “Last week, former Secretary of Defense William Perry said the United States could retire its intercontinental ballistic missile leg of the so-called nuclear triad and still retain a credible second strike capability with the remaining two legs—its bombers and submarines. In fact, we are already seeing evidence that it is unnecessary for the United States and Russia to maintain numerical parity in their nuclear warhead inventories for the United States to be secure,” writes James Doyle for The National Interest.

--“According to the latest exchange of New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) date, Russia now deploys 254 more nuclear warheads than the United States, which is more than sixty percent of the warheads currently carried by the entire intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) leg of the U.S. nuclear triad… The big lesson of this latest exchange of New START data is that it is unnecessary for the U.S. nuclear arsenal to remain ‘second to none’ … strict numerical parity with Russian warheads is unnecessary.” Full article here. http://bit.ly/1SCt4FB

Nuclear papers found at suspect’s apartment - “Documents about Germany's Juelich nuclear research centre were found at Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam's Brussels flat, reports say. The suspect, captured four days before the Brussels bombings, had internet print-outs and photos of the centre's boss, media network RND said. However, German intelligence officials have insisted the report is incorrect. The Juelich research centre also put out a statement saying it had no indication of any threat,” reports the BBC. http://bbc.in/1VnJIz7

Radioactive materials can’t be ignored - “Substances that terrorists might fashion into nuclear bombs do deserve the lion's share of attention whenever nuclear security is discussed. But radioactive sources — materials produced because they emit radiation useful in agriculture, industry, construction, medicine, mining, research, and transportation—are quite dangerous in their own right… They can be vulnerable to theft and to black-market sale. Worse, they could be used by jihadists to make a radioactive dispersal device, otherwise known as a dirty bomb,” writes Hubert Foy for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

--“So far, the threats posed by radioactive sources have gone largely unaddressed. To be sure, radioactive sources were introduced to the agenda of the Nuclear Security Summits in 2012, when the Seoul communiqué emphasized the importance of insuring that radiological sources aren't put to malicious use. But four years and two summits later, radioactive sources continue to pose a very real threat.” Full article here. http://bit.ly/25ZYUq7

Hiroshima visit - “Now that Mr. Kerry has paved the way, there should be nothing keeping President Obama from becoming the first American president to stop at Hiroshima when he travels to Japan next month for a meeting of the Group of 7 leaders. But he should be prepared to offer some tangible new initiative to keep alive his flagging vision of a nuclear-free world,” writes the editorial board of The New York Times.

--In the opinion of the board, President Obama “should cancel the new air-launched, nuclear-armed cruise missile. He should work to persuade the United Nations Security Council to endorse the nuclear test moratorium that all countries but North Korea observe, even though the test ban treaty has never formally taken effect, and push to have the United Nations organization that monitors testing be made permanent. If President Obama does visit Hiroshima, he needs to make it count. Full piece here. http://nyti.ms/1WrCYje

Nonproliferation more important than apology - “Progress on ridding the world of nuclear weapons, not an apology, is what Hiroshima would want from a visit by U.S. President Barack Obama to the Japanese city hit by an American nuclear attack 71 years ago, survivors and other residents said… ‘If the president is coming to see what really happened here and if that constitutes a step toward the abolition of nuclear arms in future, I don't think we should demand an apology,’ said Takeshi Masuda,” writes Kiyoshi Takenaka for Reuters. http://reut.rs/1Q5Zk2i

Clinton addresses Trump’s nuclear stance - “Trump’s policies would reverse decades of bipartisan consensus. Even letting friendly nations go nuclear would make it harder for us to prevent rogue regimes from doing the same. Trump would risk unleashing an arms race in places like East Asia and the Middle East, expand the amount of nuclear material in the world and increase the chance of terrorists acquiring some of that material and using it to attack the U.S.,” writes Hillary Clinton in the New York Daily News.http://nydn.us/1Sc3BFO

North Korea talks nukes - “Ahead of a rare ruling party Congress next month, secretive North Korea is revealing details of its weapons development program for the first time, showcasing its push to develop long-range nuclear missiles despite international sanctions... In just over a month, the North has published articles with technicolor photographic detail on a range of tests and other activities that point to fast-paced efforts to build a nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM),” report Jack Kim and David Brunnstrom for Reuters.

--“The reason for the revelations, many analysts say, is that Pyongyang believes convincing the world, and its own people, of its nuclear prowess is as important as the prowess itself. Nevertheless, isolated North Korea's true capabilities and intentions remain unknown…. ‘The openness suggests that the underlying strategy is as much diplomatic as military: it is important to Pyongyang not only that they have these capabilities, but that we believe they have these capabilities,’ [aerospace engineer John] Schilling said.” Full story here. http://reut.rs/1SdkJ13

Tweet - @NTI_WMD: Where are #NorthKorea's #nuclear facilities? Take a look w/ our interactive map: http://bit.ly/1Y86QkW

Video - “U.S. sources: Signs of North Korea mobile ballistic missile launch,” Barbara Starr reports for CNN. http://cnn.it/1TS3Gkr

Push for new Iran sanctions criticized - “A top Treasury Department official argued against imposing new legislative sanctions on Iran after its ballistic missile tests last month, even as he said the Islamic Republic would remain blocked from the U.S. financial system,” reports Kambiz Foroohar for Bloomberg. Adam Szubin, Treasury’s acting undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said, “New mandatory non-nuclear sanctions legislation would needlessly risk undermining our unity with international partners.” http://bloom.bg/22x5zU6

Quick Hits:

--“Under the Nuclear Shadow: A Short History of the China-North Korea Relationship,” by Eleanor Albert and Beina Xu for Defense One. http://bit.ly/1VlIRvD

--“Boeing to Compete for Minuteman III Technology Refresh Contract,” by Stew Magnuson for National Defense. http://bit.ly/1SLv9zk

--“Carter: THAAD in Korea ‘Going to Happen’,” by Aaron Mehta for Defense News. http://bit.ly/1SfywV7

--“Strategic Stability: Lessons from the Latest New START Data,” by Jim Doyle for The National Interest. http://bit.ly/1SCt4FB

--“Assessing Obama’s Nuclear Legacy,” by Mercy A. Kuo and Angie O. Tang for The Diplomat. http://bit.ly/1S4n3lE

--“Donald Trump's nuclear stance opens wounds in Hiroshima,” by Elise Labott for CNN. http://cnn.it/263bJQv

--“Ex-appropriator laments 'nuclear bridge to nowhere',” by Hannah Hess for E&E Daily. http://bit.ly/22wxfZ2

--“How the next U.S. president should manage Russia,” by Josh Cohen for Reuters. http://reut.rs/1VUELge

--“Untangling Iran's web of sanctions after the nuclear deal,” by Marketa Hulpachova for the Guardian. http://bit.ly/1SMOAI4

--“Obama’s Disappointing Nuclear Security Legacy,” by Neil Joeck for the Foreign Policy. http://atfp.co/23EfTft

--“North Korea prepares one or two intermediate-range missiles: Yonhap,” reports Ju-min Park for Reuters. http://reut.rs/1VX0t3l

--“President Obama's Hiroshima speech” by Hugh Gusterson for the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. http://bit.ly/1SO07XP

--“Former Energy Department worker sentenced in email ‘spear-phishing’ attempt,” by Spencer Hsu for The Washington Post. http://wapo.st/1S5XGSM

Events:

--“U.S. Policy Directions in Limiting Enrichment and Processing,” with Thomas Countryman, Assistant Secretary of State; Edward McGinnis, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Energy; Robert Galluci, Georgetown University; and Sharon Squassoni, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) April 21 from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m., at CSIS, 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW, Washington. RSVP by email. http://bit.ly/1MpZgQr

--World premiere of the bomb at the Tribeca Film Festival. April 23 and 24 at 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., Gotham Hall, 1356 Broadway, New York. Tickets available online. http://bit.ly/1RsGbK1

--“What We Talk About When We Talk About the Bomb,” discussing nuclear weapons with Michael Douglas, Eric Schlosser, Emma Belcher, Joe Cirincione, Robert Kenner, and Smriti Keshari. April 23 at 5:00 p.m. at SVA Theater 2 Beatrice, 333 W 23rd St, New York, NY 10011. Tickets available online. http://bit.ly/1WnDYVR

--“Nuclear Weapons: Iraq, Iran and Beyond,” with Joe Cirincione, Ploughshares Fund, and Valerie Plame, former career covert CIA operations officer. April 25 at 3:00 p.m. at the University of Washington, Husky Union Building, Room 214, Seattle. http://bit.ly/1Ml5MYC

--“Missile Defense and Deterrent Issues Facing NATO and Europe,” with Tom Karako, Center for Strategic and International Studies; and James Acton, Carnegie Endowment. April 27 from 8:00 to 9:00 a.m., at the Capitol Hill Club, 300 First St. SE, Washington. RSVP online. http://conta.cc/25ULZFH

Dessert:

Portland’s plans for nuclear Armageddon - “Think of the city of Portland, Ore., today and it’s easy to conjure images of hipsters living the earth-friendly and artsy Pacific Northwest lifestyle — a laid-back place where a vegan donut is the most popular pastry and according to a character from the T.V. show Portlandia, you can put a bird on anything and call it art. But once upon a time during the Cold War, it was a city that was as serious as a heart attack about surviving nuclear Armageddon,” writes Kelly Butte for War is Boring.

--“On Sept. 27, 1955 at 3:05 in the afternoon, air raid sirens wailed in downtown Portland, signaling the beginning of a drill. By 3:59, 29,423 vehicles and 101,074 people in the urban core were … gone. The majority of the people and cars in downtown Portland cleared out — and civil defense officials across the nation hailed Operation Greenlight as proof that similar programs could save lives during a nuclear war.” Get the full story here. http://bit.ly/1SfvAYr

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