Top News North Korea’s newest missile appears designed to evade US defenses, officials say Task & Purpose Russia’s Second Poseidon Underwater Drone-Carrying Submarine to Be Launched in 2020 The Diplomat Countering WMD in the Digital Age: Breaking Down Bureaucratic Silos in a Brave New World War on the RocksNatasha E. Bajem U.S. Nuclear News U.S. Leads World in Nuke Reduction Efforts, DOD Official Says US Department of Defense05/15/2019 For decades, the United States has led the world in efforts to reduce the number of nuclear weapons, the deputy undersecretary of defense for policy said at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on the current state of arms control efforts. US Undecided About Extending Nuclear Arms Control Treaty with Russia The Epoch Times5/15/2019 The United States has not made a decision about extending a key nuclear arms pact with Russia, a senior Trump administration arms control official told lawmakers on May 15. The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), which came into effect in 2011, is set to expire in February 2021. The treaty capped the number of missiles, bombers, warheads, and launchers the two nations can possess. East Asia North Korea’s newest missile appears designed to evade US defenses, officials say Task & Purpose5/16/2019 A newly tested North Korean short-range ballistic missile appears to be a copy of an advanced Russian design that could greatly improve Pyongyang’s ability to evade U.S. missile defense systems, according to U.S. officials. Russia/FSU/Europe Russia’s Second Poseidon Underwater Drone-Carrying Submarine to Be Launched in 2020 The Diplomat5/15/2019 The second Poseidon-carrying sub, the Project 09851 nuclear-powered special purpose submarine Khabarovsk, will be launched in the spring of 2020, according to Russian media reports. Opinion/Analysis/Commentary North Korean missiles: Size does not matter Bulletin of the Atomic ScientistsDuyeon Kim, Melissa Hanham5/15/2019 When it comes to dealing with North Korea’s nuclear program, one fundamental challenge (among many) has been a gap in the definitions of very basic terms in the security lexicon. This inability to agree on the basics has complicated negotiations and communications for more than 25 years. While the vague use of the term “denuclearization” has allowed a kind of rapprochement between the United States and North Korea, denuclearization will never actually happen until the parties agree on what it means and how to achieve it. Countering WMD in the Digital Age: Breaking Down Bureaucratic Silos in a Brave New World War on the RocksNatasha E. Bajem5/13/2019 Policymakers should reconsider how they organize the national security enterprise for the digital age. In this essay, I compare how digitization will affect different “weapons of mass destruction,” focusing on nuclear and biological weapons. Specifically, I examine the availability of digital information, the automation of capabilities that could aid in the development of these weapons, and the move toward autonomous capabilities. Special Interest UN chief Guterres concerned nuclear ‘coffin’ leaking in Pacific Al Jazeera5/16/2019 The United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has raised concerns that a concrete dome built last century to contain waste from atomic bomb tests is leaking radioactive material into the Pacific. You’ve all seen ‘Armageddon’ – here’s how nuclear weapons can prevent it in real life The Independent – James A Green5/15/2019 Nuclear bombs aren’t just weapons with the potential to destroy mankind, they could save it instead. James A Green talks deadly asteroids and how we can avoid the same fate as the dinosaurs