President Barack Obama talks to the press about his initial talks onthe sidelines of the Nuclear Summit and his agenda for the conference.Obama emphasizes the need to secure nuclear materials globally toensure that stray material does not make it into the wrong hands. Obamasingles out South Africa as an example of a leader innon-proliferation, having started a nuclear program and then laterdeciding to reverse their actions.
Today’s Nuclear Security Summit is the largest gathering of world leaders in Washington ever hosted by an American president. Despite the importance of this event, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to skip the meeting. His move highlights the problems the world’s leaders confront in preventing the feared wave of nuclear weapons proliferation in the Middle East. Until last week, Netanyahu had indicated that he planned to attend the summit in order to bolster efforts to prevent Tehran from using its civilian nuclear program to develop a nuclear weapons capacity. In addition to the formal sessions occurring yesterday and today, […]
For those wondering how President Barack Obama planned to justify his Nobel Peace Prize, two developments last week strongly suggest that it will be by way of his dream of a “world without nuclear weapons.” The first was his successful conclusion of a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia, which takes almost a third off the top of both sides’ massive nuclear arsenals. The second was Obama’s new Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), which declared that “preventing nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism” was the nation’s No. 1 strategic priority. At the same time, the review offers a striking new pledge […]
As the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review is released, NewsHour’s Jeffrey Brown talks to Joseph Cirincione, president of the Ploughshares Fund, a foundation that promotes a nuclear-free world and Stephen Rademaker who has served in the administrations of both George H.W. and George W. Bush, focusing on arms control and proliferation issues. Cirincione says this NPR is “night and day” in comparison to the similar report conducted under the Bush administration that expanded the role of nuclear weapons in military operations. Conversely, Rademaker says that the most recent report is more verbiage than substance, with enough wiggle room to still use […]
Secretary Clinton, Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Navy Admiral Mike Mullen conduct a press briefing to introduce the New Nuclear Posture Review.
France’s decision to negotiate the sale of four Mistral-class Amphibious Transport Docks to Russia has been met with harsh criticism in the United States and among some NATO allies. Georgian Foreign Minister Eka Tkeshelashvili was particularly brutal, declaring of the sale, “It’s not even appeasement of Russia. It’s a reward for Russia.” There is no question that the acquisition of the four amphibious warships will substantially enhance Russia’s power-projection capabilities. However, Russia is not the only state to have committed to the construction of large-deck amphibious warships. In fact, Moscow’s purchase of the Mistrals comes in the context of a […]
To what extent does the ownership and management of a nation’s information infrastructure represent a question of national security? This question is all the more important because of recent changes in the models by which IT infrastructures are currently deployed, owned, and used. In general, we use the term “protected industry” to refer to an industry or economic segment protected from external competition or influences (e.g., ownership likely to export production and jobs). Barriers to importation are raised to protect domestic industry from foreign competition, while foreign investment and ownership are blocked or restricted in some instances, both to protect […]
Just 12 years ago, in writing a research memorandum on the future of global telecommunications, I noted the oft-quoted estimate that roughly half of the planet’s population had never made a phone call in their lives. Fast forward to today, and best estimates are that 55 percent of the planet owns a mobile telephone. Factor in that the highest rates of growth are occurring among the poorest and most disconnected populations, where communal use of cells is the norm, and it seems likely that this pool of phone-call virgins has been cut in half — or better. With virtually universal […]
The Vatican used the celebrations of Easter week to stage a counteroffensive in the pedophilia scandal that has challenged its very center. Cardinal Angelo Sodano’s public declaration of support for Pope Benedict XVI, which he said was made on behalf of the Catholic clergy worldwide, was an unprecedented departure from the liturgy of the occasion. The fact that Vatican officials were willing to tinker with the rigid lines of church ceremony is a sign of desperation — but also an indication of an emerging, and vigorous, damage-control strategy. The central objective is to defend the integrity and authority of a […]
From post-election protests in Iran to the campaign against trade in conflict minerals, social media is revolutionizing the way human rights advocates broadcast their efforts. Internet-based services like Twitter and YouTube enable campaigners to reach global audiences and put issues in the international spotlight with just a few mouse-clicks. The potential reach of social media gained worldwide attention in the aftermath of Iran’s controversial June 2009 elections. Protesters and their supporters took to the streets, but also to the Internet, posting videos and information on social media sites, with Twitter becoming a main focal point. The Iranian protestors’ use of […]
The system we have in place today to ensure the nation’s security from terrorism can be overwhelmingly complex, reflecting a broad diversity of major players and dozens of strategic objectives. This complexity is due, in part, to successive administrations redefining an increasingly intricate web of relationships, roles, and responsibilities, often without rescinding — or fully integrating with — direction established by their predecessors. As a result, the nation’s counterterrorism system has evolved largely in a piecemeal, ad hoc fashion, without the benefit of an overarching strategy or blueprint for how best to organize for success. Over five years ago, the […]