Nuclear Policy News – January 31, 2020

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Top News

Iran calls US sanctions on nuke organization chief ‘unwise’
San Francisco Chronicle

Review of the NNSA report on the Los Alamos National Laboratory contract competition
Governmental Accountability Office

ANALYSIS: New START: The future of U.S.-Russia nuclear arms control
Council on Foreign Relations

United States

Review of the NNSA report on the Los Alamos National Laboratory contract competition
Governmental Accountability Office1/30/20
The National Nuclear Security Administration manages U.S. nuclear weapons programs at laboratories and other facilities. One such facility is the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. NNSA awarded a new contract to manage the Los Alamos lab in 2018, due to performance and safety issues with the prior contractor.

Pentagon deploys 1st low-yield nuclear warhead-armed submarine
Democracy Now1/31/20
The Pentagon has deployed the first submarine armed with a low-yield Trident nuclear warhead in a move that anti-nuclear activists say increases the threat of nuclear war.

ANALYSIS: AI, cyberspace, and nuclear weapons
War on the RocksJames Johnson, Elanor Krabill
1/31/20
When it comes to artificial intelligence (AI), cyberspace, and national security, there are more questions than answers.

East Asia

ANALYSIS: If denuclearization is a fantasy, what can North Korean negotiations achieve?
War on the RocksAriel Levite and Toby Dalton
1/31/20
At the end of December, having paid his respects to his ancestral heritage by riding a white stallion to Mt. Paektu, Kim Jong Un returned to Pyongyang to deliver a lengthy address to the North Korean Worker’s Party Central Committee.

Japanese MoD increasingly concerned about North Korea’s growing military capabilities
Janes1/31/20
Japan Ministry of Defense (MoD) officials have expressed their growing concerns about North Korea’s increasing military capabilities, especially regarding the communist country’s development of weapons of mass destruction, reiterating their assessment that Pyongyang has already successfully miniaturised a nuclear warhead for fitment onto a ballistic missile.

Middle East

Iran calls US sanctions on nuke organization chief ‘unwise’
San Francisco Chronicle1/31/20
Iran’s nuclear energy organization called recent sanctions on the head of the agency by the U.S. an “unwise move” that won’t interrupt Iran’s peaceful nuclear policies.

Russia/Europe

ANALYSIS: This week in history: The US satellite launch that didn’t start a nuclear war with Russia
Russia Matters1/30/20
Twenty-five years ago this week, a U.S.-Norwegian team of scientists launched a rocket with equipment to study the northern lights from the coast of Norway. Due to the rocket’s size, speed and trajectory—as well as some possible lapses in communication—Russian systems mistook it for a missile attack and went on high alert.

Multilateral Arms Control

ANALYSIS: New START: The future of U.S.-Russia nuclear arms control
Council on Foreign RelationsBrian Sittlow
1/28/20
With this major U.S.-Russia nuclear arms control agreement set to expire next year, Washington should coordinate with Moscow for a New START treaty extension to allow for further negotiations and the ability to maintain U.S. nuclear deterrence.

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