TOP NEWS John Hyten, America’s top nuclear commander, nominated to become next vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff CNBC Moon Heads to White House Aiming to End North Korea Impasse The Wall Street Journal The Dual-Track Approach: A Long-Term Strategy For A Post-INF Treaty World War on the Rocks – John D. Maurer U.S. Nuclear Policy John Hyten, America’s top nuclear commander, nominated to become next vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff CNBC4/9/2019 Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson announced Tuesday that U.S. Air Force Gen. John Hyten, America’s top nuclear commander, will be the next vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The four-star general has served as commander of U.S. Strategic Command since November 2016. Before becoming the country’s top nuclear commander, Hyten headed Air Force Space Command. Hyten has been a vocal proponent of space-based defenses in order to protect U.S. assets in space and track hypersonic threats. East Asia Moon Heads to White House Aiming to End North Korea Impasse The Wall Street Journal4/9/2019 South Korea’s president, who played peacemaker by bringing the North Korean regime to talks with his U.S. ally, now faces the challenge of persuading both sides to make concessions he argues can help get Kim Jong Un to give up his nuclear arsenal. North Korea’s ruling party to meet amid ‘tense situation’: state media Reuters4/9/2019 North Korea will hold a plenary session of its ruling party’s central committee on Wednesday, a day after leader Kim Jong Un chaired a politburo meeting to discuss ways to make progress under the “prevailing tense situation”, state media reported. The Man Who Brought Trump and Kim Together Tries to Rescue Talks Bloomberg4/10/2019 A year ago, South Korean President Moon Jae-in was preparing to host Kim Jong Un on the southern side of their fortified border — a historic high-water mark that fueled talk of a Nobel Peace Prize. Now, he’s heading back to Washington, hoping a direct appeal to U.S. President Donald Trump can keep all that from slipping away. The South Korean leader is slated to visit the White House on Thursday in a bid to rescue talks thrown into doubt when Trump walked away from his Feb. 28 summit with Kim in Hanoi, saying North Korea wasn’t making sufficient commitments to give up its nuclear weapons. Top N.K. nuke negotiator’s status appears intact despite no-deal Trump-Kim summit Yonhap News Agency4/10/2019 North Korea’s top nuclear negotiator, Kim Yong-chol, appeared at this week’s key ruling party meeting, indicating his still high stature in the communist state despite the collapse of Pyongyang’s summit with Washington in February. As Moon heads to Washington, Kim turns to old friend Moscow Al Jazeera4/10/2019 South Korean President Moon Jae-in is stepping into his role as mediator again as he flies off to Washington for a meeting with United States President Donald Trump on Thursday. But as Moon heads to the US, North Korea is looking to old friend Moscow, as Kim Jong Un seeks a way out from under the sanctions that are now overwhelming the country’s economy. Opinion and Analysis The Dual-Track Approach: A Long-Term Strategy For A Post-INF Treaty World War on the Rocks – John D. Maurer4/10/2019 Too many observers today view arms control as a simple cooperative exercise, one with which they can agree or disagree depending on their political proclivities. But, historically, arms control has served a variety of purposes, including promoting America’s competitive military advantages. The INF Treaty is a case in point: By limiting Soviet missile deployments, the agreement enhanced America’s power projection capabilities and reassured its allies. Today, with the United States and its allies facing a similar threat and the INF Treaty being moribund, a new Dual Track approach holds the best chance of building a new, better agreement to limit intermediate-range missiles, playing to U.S. strengths, and advancing American security in the 21st century. Trump summit, and thereafter The Korea Times – Na Jeong-ju4/10/2019 The upcoming summit between President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump will be a barometer of how Washington will deal with Pyongyang. But there are reasons why this meeting cannot be as productive as Moon hopes it will be. Instead, he may come to face with the harsh reality when arranging a deal between the two sides while the U.S. remains skeptical about the North’s commitment to denuclearization. The EMP Threat Is Real, but It Shouldn’t Keep You up at Night Stratfor4/9/2019 U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order March 26 outlining the administration’s policy pertaining to the threat of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP). When it comes to the threat posed to the United States, the principles of mutually assured destruction — which have helped steer the world away from nuclear war since the USSR became a nuclear power in 1949 — would still apply to a HEMP attack. It’s unlikely that a HEMP attack would successfully disarm the United States, since the U.S. nuclear weapons triad is specifically designed to survive a direct nuclear attack. And any country that launches such an attack is certain to face retaliation.