4/23/10

The dual threats of nuclear terrorism and nuclear proliferation are at the top of the national security agenda for the United States and its allies.  As a result, the U.S. is leading international efforts to both prevent nuclear terrorism and to stop the spread of nuclear weapons.  In particular, the Administration advanced three significant initiatives this month - the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) with Russia, the new U.S. Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), and the recent Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) - in order to address these threats.  These efforts will serve to reverse the worsening state of the global nonproliferation regime, help to deal effectively with proliferators, such as Iran and North Korea, and focus the global community on preventing vulnerable nuclear materials falling into the hands of terrorists.  Not surprisingly however, extreme conservatives continue to ignore the advice and support of America's military and national security leaders, choosing instead to mischaracterize this comprehensive approach for short term political gain at the expense of our country's long term security.

Nuclear weapons present a new set of challenges in the 21^st century, requiring the type of new policy approach being pursued by the Administration. This month witnessed the most concrete progress in decades on comprehensive initiatives aimed at controlling and reducing nuclear weapons and materials. As Undersecretary of State Ellen Tauscher said yesterday at a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, "President Obama outlined several steps last year to strengthen our national security by reducing the role and numbers of nuclear weapons. In the past month, we have advanced that agenda by releasing the Nuclear Posture Review, signing the New START Treaty, and hosting the Nuclear Security Summit." These key initiatives strengthen U.S. national security in response to the 21st century threats of nuclear terrorism and nuclear proliferation. As Washington Post columnist Jim Hoagland writes in a recent piece, Obama's "well-conceived, confidently executed three-part movement in statecraft this month should banish the notion that Obama's ambitious nuclear goals spring from naiveté or inexperience. In the space of two weeks, the president put his own stamp on the Nuclear Posture Review released by the Pentagon on April 6, closed the deal on a modest but necessary strategic-arms treaty with Russia and then hosted a 47-nation summit that adopted his view that nuclear terrorism poses the biggest single threat to global stability."

In addition, STRATCOM Commander General Kevin Chilton reiterated the military's support for this approach at the hearing yesterday, saying "Today, our deterrent is safe, secure, and effective; our forces are trained and ready; and the Command is faithfully and fully carrying out its mission each and every day. I am confident that the NPR and New START outline an approach that continues to enable the men and women of U.S. Strategic Command to deliver global security for America today and in the future." [Ellen Tauscher, 4/22/10.  Jim Hoagland, 4/18/10. Gen. Chilton, in testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee, 4/22/10]

Despite the widely-supported revival of smart, 21^st century nonproliferation policies, extreme conservatives continue to politicize our national security and ignore the advice and support of America's military and national security leaders.  After nearly a decade of ignoring the threatening trends of a world where vulnerable materials were unsecured, terrorist groups sought to acquire nuclear weapons, and proliferators continued to spread nuclear know-how, this Administration is now taking serious steps to assert American leadership in order to address these issues.  Yet despite the wide-spread support for these efforts, which are galvanizing international collective action to deal with what is ultimately a global challenge, extreme conservatives have decried these policies and are blatantly mischaracterizing the facts, threatening to cynically undo the Administration's efforts by playing politics with our national security.

John Bolton, the never-confirmed U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.:  "By further unilaterally limiting the circumstances in which the U.S. would use nuclear weapons to protect itself and its allies, the Obama administration is in fact increasing international instability and the risks of future conflicts... Nuclear proliferators, as well as countries with chemical and biological weapons programs, can only welcome these further unforced American errors on the road to nuclear impotence.  [John Bolton, 4/7/10]

Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ): "I am not yet convinced that ratifying New START is in our best interests, and I know it won't be if the Obama administration does not commit adequate resources to a robust modernization program for our nuclear deterrent." [Jon Kyl via National Journal, 4/20/10]

Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK):  "In President Obama's zeal to rid the world of nuclear weapons, he is putting nations around the globe at greater risk from a nuclear attack by not ensuring existing weapons are more secure..." [Jim Inhofe, 4/15/10]

Senator John McCain (R-AZ):  Blatantly ignoring statements from Secretary of Defense Robert Gates that explain how the Administration's policies protect against today's threats, Sen. McCain unfairly charged that the Administration was not taking the issue seriously by stating that "Meeting the nonproliferation threats posed by rogue states like [Iran and North Korea] must be our top priority as we determine our nuclear posture and work to shore up the global nonproliferation regime.  Otherwise, all of our efforts to reduce our nuclear arsenal as well as our reliance on it will be for naught."  [John McCain, 4/22/10]

A broad bipartisan consensus amongst national security leaders and experts exists for the Administration's policies, despite the politically-charged extreme conservative criticism:

George Schultz, Secretary of State for the Reagan administration: "[President Obama] is doing an excellent job. He has put the vision out there and keeps it out there. The nuclear posture review shows he is being careful about American national security at every step. The conference of world leaders on securing fissile material is the right thing to do. Who is going to disagree with that? So you get the whole world working on something and solving a problem. That is always a good step." [George Schultz, 4/14/10]

Henry Kissinger, National Security Advisor and Secretary of State for the Nixon and Ford administrations: "As for the recent summit of world leaders, controlling fissionable material all over the world is crucial, especially as the civilian use of nuclear energy spreads. Of these three initiatives on the nuclear weapons front taken by Obama, this is the most important subject. It will need continued attention to be effective." [Henry Kissinger, 4/20/10]

Ambassador Richard Burt, the original Chief START negotiator during the George H.W. Bush administration: "A year ago Presidents Obama and Medvedev declared their joint commitment to achieving a world without nuclear weapons.  Today with the conclusion of the new START agreement - the first significant arms reduction agreement in nearly two decades - they took a major step toward achieving their goal of global zero.  This agreement will set the stage for further cuts in U.S. and Russian arsenals and multilateral negotiations for reductions by all nuclear weapons countries." [Richard Burt, 3/26/10]

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates: "The [Nuclear Posture] [R]eview rightly places the prevention of nuclear terrorism and proliferation at the top of the U.S. nuclear policy agenda. Given al-Qaida's continued quest for nuclear weapons, Iran's ongoing nuclear efforts and North Korea's proliferation, this focus is appropriate and indeed essential, an essential change from previous reviews.... Driven by the changing nature of the security environment, the NPR focuses on five key objectives: first, preventing nuclear proliferation and terrorism; second, reducing the role of U.S. nuclear weapons in the U.S. national security strategy; third, maintaining strategic deterrence and stability at reduced nuclear force levels; fourth, strengthening regional deterrence and reassuring U.S. allies and partners; and finally, sustaining a safe, secure and effective nuclear arsenal." [Sec. Gates, 4/6/10]

Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: "We believe it [Nuclear Posture Review] provides us and our field commanders the opportunity to better shape our nuclear weapons posture, policies, and force structure to meet an ever-changing security environment...  The review also retains the strategic triad of bombers, submarines and missiles that have served us so well, the review further strengthens us. It improves the United States command and control, works to prevent nuclear terrorism and proliferation, and suggests new dialogues through which to improve transparency with Russia and China." [Adm. Mullen, 4/8/10]

General James Cartwright, Vice-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff:  "I don't feel constrained in the least, really," Marine Corps Gen. James E. Cartwright, told reporters during the unveiling of the NPR at the Pentagon. "I think we have more than enough capacity and capability for any threat that we see today or might emerge in the foreseeable future." [Gen. Cartwright, 4/6/10]

What We're Reading

Bowing to market pressure, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said he will ask for the European Union and the International Monetary Fund to activate an emergency financial support package to help shore up public finances.

A series of bombings struck mosques, a market and a shop in Baghdad, as well as the homes of a prosecutor and police officers in western Iraq on Friday, killing at least 56, only five days after a joint Iraqi-American raid killed the country's top two al Qaeda leaders.

The Afghan parliament, long a bastion of dysfunction and docility, has emerged this spring as a robust check on President Hamid Karzai's power, giving the United States an unlikely ally as it tries to persuade the government there to clean up its act.

"Red shirt" protesters offered a compromise to the Thai government, just one day after a series of grenade attacks in Bangkok, saying they would accept dissolution of parliament in 30 days rather than immediately.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has proposed Palestinian statehood with temporary borders, to sidestep a deadlock over settlements ahead of talks with U.S. envoy George Mitchell.

There were fewer attacks by Somali pirates in the first quarter of this year than during the same time last year, but their reach is extending far beyond the Gulf of Aden.

Iran has said that it will allow U.N. nuclear officials better monitoring and access to a site where it started enriching uranium to higher levels over two months ago.

Belgium plunged into political crisis as Prime Minister Yves Leterme offered to resign after a key Flemish party quit his coalition government two months before the country assumes the EU chair.

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has backed Iran's "just cause" on seeking nuclear power, as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad continues his visit to the African country.

Mexican soldiers have captured Gerardo Alvarez Vazquez , a man with a $2 million bounty on his head and the leader of one of several splinter groups that broke away from the powerful Sinaloa cartel.

Commentary of the Day

Foreign Policy magazine asks a group of Americans, Israelis and Palestinian leaders why we've failed on Middle East peace.

Vicki Divoll, former general counsel of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and a former assistant general counsel for the CIA, argues that the targeting of Anwar al Awlaki for killing violates the Constitution's due process clause.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen calls for a joint NATO-Russian missile defense umbrella for Europe.

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