Nuclear Policy News – July 16, 2019

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Top News

Dawn of the Nuclear Age: 74 years ago, the first atomic bomb was tested in a desert in New Mexico
First Post

Countering Missiles With Missiles: U.S. Military Posture After The INF Treaty
War on the Rocks

POLICY ROUNDTABLE: Nuclear First-Use and Presidential Authority
Texas National Security Review

U.S. Nuclear Policy

Dawn of the Nuclear Age: 74 years ago, the first atomic bomb was tested in a desert in New Mexico
First Post7/16/2019
Seventy years ago today, the first atomic bomb — the Trinity test — was tested deep in a desert in New Mexico.

US, Russian delegations to discuss New START treaty in Geneva
Military Times7/16/2019
Delegations from the U.S. and Russia are expected to meet this week to discuss arms control and the possibility of coaxing China into negotiating a new, three-way nuclear weapons pact, two senior administration officials said Monday.

Stefanik, Katko plan next steps to develop missile defense site at Fort Drum
The Auburn Citizen7/15/2019
Katko and Stefanik agree that adding a missile defense site on the East Coast would bolster national security.

Middle East

S-400 systems pose no threat to NATO, Turkish top diplomat says
TASS Russian News Agency7/16/2019
The S-400 missile systems that are being delivered to Turkey from Russia pose no threat to NATO, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said at a press conference on Tuesday.

Top Iran diplomat says talks on ballistic missiles possible
Military Times7/16/2019
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif for the first time suggested his country’s ballistic missile program could be on the table for negotiations with the U.S. – if America stops selling arms to its Gulf allies in the Mideast,

Russia/Former Soviet Union/Europe

Finland scrambles combat jets to identify three Russian military aircraft
Ukrainian Independent Information Agency7/16/2019
Finland has scrambled its F/A-18 combat jets to identify three Russia military aircraft above the Gulf of Finland.

France trumpets shared European defense on Bastille Day
The Washington Post7/14/2019
France’s annual Bastille Day celebration became a showcase for European defense cooperation Sunday as other national leaders joined President Emmanuel Macron in Paris to inspect the troops marching in the country’s annual military parade.

French President Emmanuel Macron announces creation of French space force
USA Today7/13/2019
On Saturday, on the day before Bastille Day celebrations in Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron announced the creation of a French space force command within the French air force – quite similar to President Donald Trump’s initiative.

Opinion/Analysis/Commentary

Trinity: “The most significant hazard of the entire Manhattan Project”
Bulletin of the Atomic ScientistsKathleen M. Tucker, Robert Alvarez
7/15/2019
The current body of historical evidence of harm, negligence, and deception—especially the evidence of increased infant death following the first nuclear explosion—should be more than enough for long overdue justice for the people in New Mexico who were downwind of Trinity.

Countering Missiles With Missiles: U.S. Military Posture After The INF Treaty
War on the RocksThomas G. Mahnken
7/16/2019
With both Russia and the United States leaving the treaty, it is effectively a dead letter. Many have discussed why this is the case, but the time is ripe to look closely at what the U.S. armed services can and should do next now that America is unshackled by the treaty’s restrictions.

The Coming AI Metamorphosis
Defense OneDr. Henry A. Kissinger, Eric Schmidt, Dr. Daniel Huttenlocher
7/14/2019
Artificial intelligence may destabilize everything from nuclear détente to human friendships. We need to think much harder about how to adapt.

Special Interest

POLICY ROUNDTABLE: Nuclear First-Use and Presidential Authority
Texas National Security Review7/2/2019
The two questions addressed here —whether the United States should adopt a policy of no-first-use (NFU) of nuclear weapons, and whether the president should continue to have sole authority to order the use of the American nuclear arsenal —have been particularly prominent in recent debates in this area. The five contributors —Nina Tannenwald, Jon Wolfsthal, John Harvey, Rachel Whitlark, and Brendan Green —all offer important insights and a range of perspectives that shed light on topics that are enormously important to international security.

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