Nuclear Policy News – August 26, 2019

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TOP NEWS

Putin to Russian military: ‘Prepare a symmetrical response’ to U.S. missile test
National Public Radio

North Korea launches 2 missiles, its 7th weapons test in a month
New York Times

Iranian FM’s surprise G7 nuclear talks end with no progress on US sanctions
France 24

U.S. Nuclear Policy

Trump suggested nuking hurricanes to stop them from hitting U.S.
Axios8/25/19
President Trump has suggested multiple times to senior Homeland Security and national security officials that they explore using nuclear bombs to stop hurricanes from hitting the United States, according to sources who have heard the president’s private remarks and been briefed on a National Security Council memorandum that recorded those comments.

Presidential Memorandum on Launch of Spacecraft Containing Space Nuclear Systems
The White House8/20/19
This memorandum updates the process for launches of spacecraft containing space nuclear systems.

Middle East

Iranian FM’s surprise G7 nuclear talks end with no progress on US sanctions
France 248/26/19
Iran’s foreign minister made a flying visit for talks with host France at the G7 summit on Sunday, as Paris ramped up efforts to ease tensions between Tehran and Washington, a dramatic diplomatic move that the White House said had surprised them.

Russia/Europe

Russia says radioactive isotopes released by missile test blast
The Guardian8/26/19
Russia’s state meteorological service says it has identified four radioactive substances in samples taken from Severodvinsk, a city located 18 miles from the site of a mysterious explosion on 8 August where radiation levels briefly spiked in the area.

Russia’s floating nuclear plant sails to its destination
Associated Press8/23/19
Russia’s first floating nuclear plant sailed Friday to its destination on the nation’s Arctic coast, a project that environmentalists have criticized as unsafe.

Putin to Russian military: ‘Prepare a symmetrical response’ to U.S. missile test
National Public Radio8/23/19
Days after the United States tested a new cruise missile, Russian President Vladimir Putin is calling for a symmetrical response.

East Asia

North Korea launches 2 missiles, its 7th weapons test in a month
New York Times8/23/19
North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles on Saturday, two days after South Korea decided to pull out of a military intelligence-sharing agreement with Japan.

Japan lashes out at South Korea as worst relations in decades threaten North Korea peace talks
The Guardian8/23/19
Shinzo Abe says Seoul’s withdrawal from intelligence-sharing deal ‘damages mutual trust’ at time of threats to national security.

Opinion/Analysis/Commentary

Putin built a hypersonic arsenal, while the Pentagon slept
The HillDov S. Zakheim
8/26/19
As the Pentagon itself acknowledges, the United States lags behind both Russia and China in hypersonic weapons development and is only at the starting gate when it comes to defenses against these systems.

Nuclear power must not lead to nuclear bombs
National InterestVictor Gilinsky and Henry Sokolski
8/25/19
The answer to the problems posed by easy access to nuclear explosives does not lie in nuclear safeguards laboratories. It flows from a realistic assessment of the prospects for enforcement.

In India rethinks nuclear no first use, it won’t surprise Pakistan or China
The DiplomatAnkit Panda
8/26/19
Islamabad and Beijing have long doubted India’s stated nuclear no first use policy.

The question India and Pakistan don’t want to ask the residents of disputed Kashmir
National InterestStratfor Worldview
8/25/19
What do they really want?

How congress can prevent a meltdown of global nuclear arms control
National InterestTom Countryman and Laura Kennedy
8/24/19
The end of the INF Treaty was a mistake but building new low-yield nukes and leaving New START would be disastrous.

Nuclear command, control, and communications: U.S. country profile
Nautilus InstituteJeffrey Larson
8/22/19
The need to ensure robust existing capabilities for the current U.S. system, plus the desire to create a new system that is more than a simple modernization of existing capabilities, means that the NC3 system twenty years from now may be significantly different.

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