Top News Trump says nuclear talks with North Korea ‘going well’ Reuters U.S. envoy meets N. Korean officials at DMZ; Secretary of State Pompeo to visit Pyongyang The Washington Post Iran, world powers in nuclear accord to meet in Vienna on Friday: IRNA Reuters Trump plans one-on-one meeting with Putin CNN EAST ASIA Trump says nuclear talks with North Korea ‘going well’ Reuters7/3/18 U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that talks with North Korea were “going well” as U.S. officials seek to reach an agreement with Pyongyang over a denuclearization plan following last month’s summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Pompeo returning to North Korea, White House says CNN7/3/18 Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to North Korea this week, the White House says. U.S. envoy meets N. Korean officials at DMZ; Secretary of State Pompeo to visit Pyongyang The Washington Post7/2/18 Sung Kim, the U.S. ambassador to the Philippines, held talks with North Korean officials in the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas over the weekend, the State Department said Monday, amid skepticism of the country’s denuclearization efforts. Donald Trump wants North Korea to denuclearize in a year, but experts say that’s impossible Newsweek7/2/18 The Trump administration has a plan to dismantle the “overwhelming bulk” of North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction within a year, national security adviser John Bolton said Sunday. US intel agency believes Kim won’t fully denuclearize CNN7/2/18 The Defense Intelligence Agency believes that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has no intention of engaging in a full denuclearization program, at least for now, according to an administration official familiar with the agency’s finding. GOP senator: Report that North Korea will not denuclearize ‘very troubling’ The Hill7/1/18 Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) on Sunday expressed concerns about a Washington Post report that found North Korea allegedly does not intend to denuclearize. Fresh North Korean Weapon Gains Raise Pressure on Pompeo Trip Bloomberg7/2/18 Evidence of new efforts by Kim Jong Un to expand his nuclear arsenal shows the challenge facing U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo when he returns to Pyongyang this week to seek a detailed disarmament plan. Doubts Mount Over North Korea’s Vow To Dismantle Nuclear Program NPR7/2/18 At last month’s summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Pyongyang agreed to completely denuclearize. But doubts are emerging already about its intentions to follow through. MIDDLE EAST Iran, world powers in nuclear accord to meet in Vienna on Friday: IRNA Reuters7/1/18 Foreign ministers of Iran and the five world powers still party to its nuclear accord will meet in Vienna on Friday to discuss ways of maintaining the deal after the withdrawal of the United States, Iranian state news agency IRNA reported on Tuesday. Iran’s president is in Europe to save the nuclear deal … but he risks starting a ‘messy dispute’ CNBC7/3/18 Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is in Europe to meet the leaders of Austria and Switzerland in a bid to save the international nuclear deal that has been abandoned by the U.S. Iranian president visits Europe to rally nuclear deal support Newsweek7/2/18 Iranian President Hassan Rouhani embarked Monday on a trip to Europe to bolster assurances that Europe would continue to support the 2015 nuclear deal despite the U.S. withdrawal. RUSSIA/FSU/EUROPE Trump plans one-on-one meeting with Putin CNN7/2/18 President Donald Trump plans to meet one-on-one with Vladimir Putin at the start of their July 16 summit in Helsinki, Finland, according to a person familiar with the plans, before allowing other aides to join the highly anticipated encounter with the Russian leader. U.S. NUCLEAR POLICY Nuclear security agency begins work on New Mexico complex ABC News7/2/18 The head of the U.S. agency that oversees the nation’s nuclear weapons cache and key deterrence initiatives around the globe describes working conditions at one of its largest hubs as untenable, saying Monday that the National Nuclear Security Administration finally has funding to address the problems. OPINION AND ANALYSIS Happy 50th Birthday to the NPT Nuclear Treaty Defense OneJoe Cirincione 7/2/18 There’s good reason to celebrate the Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968. We’re all still here, aren’t we? But the NPT regime’s protections are being tested more profoundly than ever. Commentary: Trump and Putin should start small at Helsinki summit ReutersWilliam Courtney and Kenneth Yalowitz 7/2/18 On the heels of his historic meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, Donald Trump will now hold his first formal summit with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki on July 16. Trump meeting Putin is yet another headache for Europe CNBCMatt Clinch 7/3/18 Any world leaders meeting face-to-face should be seen as a good thing, but when it’s President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, then European officials are right to feel a little anxious. No One Knows What Kim Jong Un Promised Trump The AtlanticKrishnadev Calamur 7/2/18 North Korea is reportedly continuing nuclear work. But it’s not clear that’s a violation of what it agreed to in Singapore. Infrastructure Improvements at North Korea’s Yongbyon Nuclear Research Facility 38NorthFrank V. Pabian, Joseph S. Bermudez Jr. and Jack Liu 6/26/18 Commercial satellite imagery from June 21 indicates that improvements to the infrastructure at North Korea’s Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center are continuing at a rapid pace. SPECIAL INTEREST WHERE’S OUR “DR. STRANGELOVE”? IN THE TRUMP ERA, AMERICA DESPERATELY NEEDS A GREAT MOVIE ABOUT NUCLEAR APOCALYPSE. The InterceptJon Schwarz 7/1/18 THE MOST PECULIAR thing about America’s 2018 apocalyptic imagination is the dog that isn’t barking. We have “Westworld” and “Terminator” and “Ex Machina” and a dozen more movies about artificial intelligence that decides to kill us. We have “The Day After Tomorrow” and “An Inconvenient Truth” and “Mother!” and maybe “Interstellar” and “Game of Thrones” about global warming. But we are notably bereft of movies, television shows, and novels about nuclear war.