Top News Russia rejects US claim of violation of nuke test ban Air Force Times North Korea Executed and Purged Top Nuclear Negotiators, South Korean Report Says The New York Times Net Assessment: Hypersonic Weapons – Gimmick or Game Changer? War on the Rocks U.S. Nuclear News Russia rejects US claim of violation of nuke test ban Air Force Times5/30/2019 The Russian Foreign Ministry has angrily rejected a U.S. claim of Moscow’s possible violation of a global nuclear test ban. Senators push for US Army to fully own terminal missile defense system Defense News5/30/2019 Senate authorizers would transfer responsibility of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System, or THAAD, from the Missile Defense Agency to the Army, according to an executive summary of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s version of the fiscal 2020 defense authorization bill. East Asia North Korea Executed and Purged Top Nuclear Negotiators, South Korean Report Says The New York Times5/30/2019 North Korea has executed its special envoy to the United States on spying charges, as its leader, Kim Jong-un, has engineered a sweeping purge of the country’s top nuclear negotiators after the breakdown of his second summit meeting with President Trump, a major South Korean daily reported on Friday. Third PLA carrier could be China’s Kitty Hawk Asia Times5/28/2019 The size of China’s third aircraft carrier, which is taking shape in Shanghai, will be roughly on par with the US Navy’s decommissioned Kitty Hawk. And it may also sport a similar flat top, plus flight deck layout. Middle East Ayatollah Khamenei says nuclear weapons are ‘forbidden under Islamic law’ Public Radio International5/30/2019 Ayatollah Ali Khamenei recently signaled that he would not want to negotiate with the US under current circumstances. He also said that Iran was not looking to acquire nuclear weapons for a surprising reason — that they were illegal under Islamic law. Tehran will ‘quickly’ restart nuclear program if EU fails to negotiate with Iran – Russian deputy FM RT5/30/2019 Tehran can easily restore its nuclear potential if the EU succumbs to the US pressure to reinstall sanctions against Iran, which were lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal (also known as the JCPOA), a top Russian diplomat has said. Opinion/Analysis/Commentary Wargames as experiments: The Project on Nuclear Gaming’s SIGNAL framework Bulletin of the Atomic ScientistsBethany L. Goldblum, Andrew W. Reddie, Jason C. Reinhardt 5/29/2019 While extensive scholarship on nuclear warfare and strategy exists, empirical data on the impact of emerging technologies such as cyber weaponry, advanced intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance tools, and precision-guided munitions are lacking. Given the importance of policy-relevant research to equip decision-makers with tools to understand nuclear deterrence and reduce the likelihood of nuclear war, the scarcity of data available to analysts remains a critical gap. Net Assessment: Hypersonic Weapons – Gimmick or Game Changer? War on the RocksMelanie Marlowe, Bryan McGrath 5/30/2019 Do they represent a “game-changer” for defense planners, or simply an incremental shift in technology? Will developing hypersonic weapons increase the likelihood of war? While the United States is beginning to invest in the offensive side of these weapons, is it doing enough to defend against a Chinese or Russian threat? Special Interest Video: What’s it like to fly in a B-2 stealth bomber? An interview with Jeff Bolton Defense News5/31/2019 Jeff Bolton, Defense News’s production partner explains his project–and what it was like to fly in a B-2.