(CUWS) Outreach Journal #1111

USAF Center for Unconventional Weapons Studies (CUWS) Outreach Journal

Issue No. 1111, 18 April 2014 Welcome to the CUWS Outreach Journal! As part of the CUWS’ mission to develop Air Force, DoD, and other USG leaders to advance the state of knowledge, policy, and practices within strategic defense issues involving nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, we offer the government and civilian community a source of contemporary discussions on unconventional weapons. These discussions include news articles, papers, and other information sources that address issues pertinent to the U.S. national security community. It is our hope that this information resources will help enhance the overall awareness of these important national security issues and lead to the further discussion of options for dealing with the potential use of unconventional weapons. The following news articles, papers, and other information sources do not necessarily reflect official endorsement of the Air University, U.S. Air Force, or Department of Defense. Reproduction for private use or commercial gain is subject to original copyright restrictions. All rights are reserved.

FEATURE ITEM: “Ballistic Missile Defense: Actions Needed to Address Implementation Issues and Estimate Long- Term Cost for European Capabilities”. Report to Congressional Committees, by the Government Accountability Office; April 2014, 48 pages. http://www.gao.gov/assets/670/662492.pdf Since 2002, DOD has spent over $98 billion developing a ballistic missile defense system to protect the U.S., U.S. forces, and allies against inbound threat missiles. In December 2011, DOD deployed the initial phase of a revised approach for Europe, with increased capabilities to be deployed in later phases. GAO has reported on potential risks to DOD’s implementation caused by the lack of a coordinated management approach and the absence of life-cycle cost estimates.

Outreach Journal Feedback or sign-up request: [email protected] Return to Top

U.S. NUCLEAR WEAPONS 1. Wind Tunnel Tests Support Improved Aerodynamic Design of B61-12 Bomb 2. U.S. Sticks to Plan for Interoperable Nuclear Warheads, Despite Criticism 3. US Nuclear Weapons Proliferation: We’re no. 1!

U.S. COUNTER-WMD 1. Pentagon Plans to Ax Missile-Interceptor Redesign Under Sequestration

U.S. ARMS CONTROL 1. Flying Blind 2. Pentagon Moves to Block Russian Spy Plane in American Skies

HOMELAND SECURITY/THE AMERICAS 1. Boston Debates Banning Deadliest Pathogens from New Biolab

ASIA/PACIFIC 1. Putin Approves Sale of S-400 to China 2. S. Korea, U.S., Japan Lower Bar for Nuclear Talks with N. Korea 3. China Issues Rare Public Warning over N. Korea's Nuclear Threat 4. China Urges Countries to Abandon Nuclear Umbrella 5. PH Won’t Ban Nuke-Capable US Ships under Pact 6. Allies Discuss Ways to Counter N. Korea's Nuclear, Missile Threats

EUROPE/RUSSIA 1. Russia's Space Defence Force Tests Launch Yars New Ballistic Missile 2. Russian Navy to Begin Sea Trials of 2 New Nuclear Subs in Summer 3. Scottish Independence: Trident Negotiations Not Ruled Out 4. Alex Salmond's Trident Plan 'Would Put UK Nuclear Deterrent in Jeopardy' 5. First Borey-Class Strategic Sub Ready for Combat Patrols - Russian Navy 6. 2,300 Tubes Containing SARS Virus Samples Missing in France 7. Putin: NATO Enlargement Pushed Russia to Annex Crimea 8. Britain's Missile Range More Important to NATO than Nuclear Submarine Fleet – Scottish Minister

MIDDLE EAST 1. AEOI Chief: Iran Entitled to Enrich Uranium to 90% Grade 2. Israel Possesses at Least 300 Nuclear Warheads: Carter 3. Iran Official Concerned over Fate of Nuclear Power Plant 4. Syria Misses Deadline for Chemical Weapons Removal: OPCW-UN Mission 5. DM: Iran's Missile Capabilities No Subject for Nuclear Talks 6. Zarif: No Fear of Hardliners on Nuclear Deal 7. Syrian Activists Report New Poison Gas Attack 8. Iran Cuts Sensitive Nuclear Stockpile, Key Plant Delayed 9. Iran Will Not Close down Nuclear Facilities: Cleric

INDIA/PAKISTAN 1. BJP Rules Out Major Change to Nuclear Policy 2. India to Conduct Complex Interceptor Missile Test

COMMENTARY 1. ‘Level 4’ Disease Research Can Be Safe, Belongs in America’s Medical Capital 2. After Ukraine, Countries That Border Russia Start Thinking About Nuclear Deterrents 3. OPINION: NATO Poses No Credible Threat to Russia 4. How to Fix the President’s Ballistic Missile Defense policy

Sandia National Labs – Albuquerque, NM Sandia Labs News Releases Wind Tunnel Tests Support Improved Aerodynamic Design of B61-12 Bomb April 14, 2014 ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories has finished eight days of testing a full-scale mock unit representing the aerodynamic characteristics of the B61-12 gravity bomb in a wind tunnel. The tests on the mock-up were done to establish the configuration that will deliver the necessary spin motion of the bomb during freefall and are an important milestone in the Life Extension Program to deliver a new version of the aging system, the B61-12. The B61 must spin during flight — spin that is controlled by a combination of rocket motors and canted fins on the tail. Engineers determined from flight tests in the 1990s that plumes from the rocket motors worked against the fin performance, counteracting the torque from the motors and reducing the vehicle spin rate. Sandia engineers termed that phenomenon “counter torque.” But data from a 2002 wind tunnel test to characterize counter torque were not fully applicable since the B61-12 uses a significantly different tail design than earlier versions. Engineers needed another series of wind tunnel tests Issue No.1111, 18 April 2014 United States Air Force Center for Unconventional Weapons Studies | Maxwell AFB, Alabama http://cpc.au.af.mil \ https://twitter.com/USAF_CUWS Phone: 334.953.7538 | Fax: 334.953.7226 2 USAF Center for Unconventional Weapons Studies CUWS Outreach Journal Maxwell AFB, Alabama to characterize counter torque on the new configuration to give them confidence the new system will meet the required spin environment in flight, said Vicki Ragsdale, a B61-12 technical basis test engineer at Sandia. The complex test required a wind tunnel big enough for a full-size mock B61. Most wind tunnel tests use models smaller than the actual flight hardware, but the physics of the B61 rocket motors cannot be replicated on a reduced scale. Sandia turned to the Air Force’s Arnold Engineering and Development Center on Arnold Air Force Base in Tennessee, which has the nation’s largest wind tunnel capable of the required air speeds, as well as considerable experience in testing jet interactions similar to those on the B61. The 2002 test was conducted in the same wind tunnel. The new test, which took three years to plan, was designed to explore the chaotic behavior of the counter torque and its implications for B61 aerodynamics. Test improves understanding of previously uncharacterized phenomenon When the data began rolling up on computer screens in the wind tunnel control room during February’s test, Sandia researchers were on hand to analyze the information immediately. They crunched numbers and debated physics for several days, and determined that the test had uncovered a previously uncharacterized physical phenomenon. Sandia researchers believe this arises uniquely because of the unusual shape of the rocket motors and from other features. The theory they had been using was based on a simpler configuration. The Sandia team revised the remainder of the wind tunnel tests to provide fresh data to unravel the complex physics of the behavior observed at near-sonic flow conditions. The improved understanding will inform the design of the B61-12 and provide an additional technical basis for the well-characterized performance of the versions of the B61 in the current U.S. stockpile. “We were able to come up with a theory for where this effect is coming from,” Ragsdale said. “It’s not a wind tunnel effect and it is something we will see in flight, so we have to account for it.” https://share.sandia.gov/news/resources/news_releases/wind_tunnel/#.U06p1yzjhDx Return to Top

National Journal U.S. Sticks to Plan for Interoperable Nuclear Warheads, Despite Criticism By Douglas P. Guarino, Global Security Newswire April 16, 2014 The Obama administration is sticking to a plan to develop controversial new warheads for the U.S. nuclear arsenal, but opponents of the project are holding out hope that officials could still change course. When it rolled out its fiscal 2014 budget request last year, the administration included a 25-year plan that it said could ultimately reduce the number of warheads in the stockpile by creating weapons suited for multiple tasks. The first such warhead, to be called the "IW-1," would replace both the existing W-78 warhead currently fitted on Air Force ground-based missiles, as well as the W-88 warhead currently used on Navy submarine-based missiles. The proposal prompted concerns from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, in part due to a dramatic projected cost surge starting around the year 2018, and continuing through 2024 and perhaps beyond. At its peak in the early 2020s, this spending "bubble" would reach a level of nearly $3 billion per year -- more than double what the United States currently spends on warhead life-extension programs. The dramatic increase largely would have been the result of the number of warhead-refurbishment projects going on simultaneously during that time period. But by sliding the IW-1 project back by five years as part of a revised

Press TV – Tehran, Iran US Nuclear Weapons Proliferation: We’re no. 1! Friday, April 18, 2014 The corporate media is focused on the question of how or if Iran could ever break out of its promise under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to eschew nuclear weapons to use reactors only for civilian purposes. So many headlines refer to sanctions imposed against Iran that millions of people mistakenly think Iran has a nuclear arsenal. It doesn’t. Meanwhile the Congress in January fully funded production of a new B61 thermonuclear gravity bomb, a program dubbed “Life Extension.” This year’s $537 million is the down payment on the 12th version of the B61 that the millionaires in DC agreed should get $11 billion over the next few years. Dubbed the “solid gold nuke” by critics, the 700-lb. H-bomb is running $28 million apiece at the moment. That much gold bullion is only worth $16 million. Issue No.1111, 18 April 2014 United States Air Force Center for Unconventional Weapons Studies | Maxwell AFB, Alabama http://cpc.au.af.mil \ https://twitter.com/USAF_CUWS Phone: 334.953.7538 | Fax: 334.953.7226 5 USAF Center for Unconventional Weapons Studies CUWS Outreach Journal Maxwell AFB, Alabama The program to replace today’s B61s with a new “mod12,” is being condemned by our allies in NATO, by Congressional budget hawks and of course by the entire arms control community. Even former Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. James Cartwright has said the bombs are “practically nil” in military value. (Gen. Cartwright only is partly right: Since it seems the Department of Defense is in the business of producing suicides by the thousands, among veterans and active duty soldiers, the suicidal mission of deploying B61s across Europe — for detonation there — seems a perfectly ghastly fit.) “This decision represents the triumph of entrenched nuclear interests over good government. The B-61 is no longer relevant for U.S. national security, but continues to rob billions of dollars from programs that would make America safer,” President Joe Cirincione of the Ploughshares Fund told Hans M. Kristensen for the Federation of American Scientists. Kristensen reported March 12 that the Pentagon has decided that the new B61 will begin its deployment in Europe next year. This 300-to-500 kiloton “variable yield” thermonuclear device has 24 to 40 times the destructive power of the US bomb that killed 170,000 people at Hiroshima in 1945. Still, this machine’s threat of meaningless, genocidal, radioactive violence is called “tactical.” Rush to Deploy New H-bomb before It’s Killed by Public Opposition The Air Force budget makes it appear that the older B61s will all be replaced — in Turkey, Italy, Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany — by 2020. This rush job is being hustled through the military-industrial-complex in a very big hurry because the broad international condemnation of the program is gaining depth and breadth. Senator Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., along with Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., and Rep Jared Polis, D-Colo., tried to curtail the program last year. Five NATO partners — Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, The Netherlands and Norway — asked four years ago that all B61s be removed permanently from Europe. In Germany, every major political party has formally resolved to pursue final withdrawal of the 20 remaining B61s at Buchel AFB. Major US allies in Europe informed Gen. Cartwright’s critical opinion. High-level European politicians have been saying the B61s are “militarily useless” since the end of the Cold War. In a widely published op-ed in 2010, former NATO secretary-general Willy Claes and three senior Belgian politicians said, “The US tactical nuclear weapons in Europe have lost all military importance.” Still, Kristensen reports, “integration” of the new B61 is supposed to take place on Belgian, Dutch, and Turkish F-16 jets and on German and Italian Tornado fighter-bombers soon. Another reason for the rush to deploy this perfect candidate for dumb bomb retirement is that Germany is considering replacing its Tornado jets in short order. All the expense of refitting its current Tornadoes to carry the “more accurate” and “more usable” B61-mod 12 would be wasted. New B61 production could also be made expensively moot by progress in arms control. The “nuclear sharing” arrangement with the five technically non-nuclear NATO partners glaringly contradicts, in Kristensen’s words, “the non-proliferation standards that member countries are trying to promote in the post-Cold War world.” In its 2012 posture review, even NATO’s ministers pledged to work for a world without nuclear weapons. So as the White House and its Secretary of State wag fingers at Iran, we and our NATO friends openly violate the binding promise made in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty “not to receive the transfer from any transferor whatsoever of nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices or of control over such weapons or explosive devices directly, or indirectly.” Maybe Iran can arrange for some sanctions to be imposed on us. http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/04/18/359130/us-no1-in-nuclear-weapons-proliferation/ Return to Top Issue No.1111, 18 April 2014 United States Air Force Center for Unconventional Weapons Studies | Maxwell AFB, Alabama http://cpc.au.af.mil \ https://twitter.com/USAF_CUWS Phone: 334.953.7538 | Fax: 334.953.7226 6 USAF Center for Unconventional Weapons Studies CUWS Outreach Journal Maxwell AFB, Alabama

National Journal Pentagon Plans to Ax Missile-Interceptor Redesign Under Sequestration By Rachel Oswald, Global Security Newswire April 16, 2014 The Pentagon would ax a redesign of the front-end kill vehicle atop its strategic missile interceptor if future sequestration cuts remain law. Sequestration levels were relaxed in defense spending legislation for fiscal 2014 and 2015. However, should these congressionally mandated reductions slated for 2016 and beyond remain in effect, the Defense Department plans to cancel an effort to correct design problems in its key missile-defense interceptor. The Defense Department revealed this budgeting contingency plan for the Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle in a report released on Tuesday, titled "Estimated Impacts of Sequestration-Level Funding." The department also announced it would eliminate a separate program to acquire an additional land-based, long-range radar in the event that spending reductions required under the 2011 Budget Control Act will kick in, come fiscal 2016. The Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle is mounted atop the Ground Based Interceptor and is designed to destroy incoming ballistic missiles by kinetic force. The three most recent intercept tests that employed the kinetic technology all ended in failure, leading the Pentagon's head of weapons testing to recommend a redesign earlier this year. The long-range interceptor is a critical element of the broader Ground-based Midcourse Defense system, which is considered the principal U.S. defense against a potential strategic missile attack. The department's Missile Defense Agency announced in March it would seek a redesign of the EKV technology and requested $100 million for the project in fiscal 2015. Total funding for the project from fiscal 2015 through fiscal 2019 was planned to be $738 million. The bulk of project funding was slated to come in fiscal 2016 and 2017. The Missile Defense Agency last month said it was requesting $80 million for the radar in the upcoming fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1. The sensor is expected to monitor the Pacific Ocean, in line with a directive by Congress under the fiscal 2014 Defense Authorization Act to deploy an additional X-band radar that would focus on any threats coming from North Korea. http://www.nationaljournal.com/global-security-newswire/pentagon-plans-to-ax-missile-interceptor-redesign- under-sequestration-20140416 Return to Top

The Washington Free Beacon – Washington, D.C. Flying Blind Russia Blocks U.S. from Treaty-Approved Spy Flights By Bill Gertz April 17, 2014 The Russian government this week canceled a planned U.S. surveillance flight over Russian territory in a bid to limit spying on massed troops facing off against Ukraine and Eastern Europe, according to U.S. officials. The overflight mission was scheduled for April 14 to April 16 under the 1992 Open Skies Treaty, but Russia’s government notified the State Department 72 hours before the scheduled flight that it would not be permitted. The cancelation is unusual because the sole reason for putting off such treaty-approve surveillance is flight safety, such as bad weather.

The Daily Beast.com Pentagon Moves to Block Russian Spy Plane in American Skies Russian surveillance planes already fly over America, thanks to a long-standing treaty. But a new, ultra- sophisticated spy plane has U.S. military and intelligence bosses spooked. By Eli Lake April 18, 2014 The Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S. military and American intelligence agencies have quietly pushed the White House in recent weeks to deny a new Russian surveillance plane the right to fly over U.S. territory. This week, the White House finally began consideration of the decision whether to certify the new Russian aircraft under the so- called “Open Skies Treaty.” And now the question becomes: Will the spies and generals get their way? As the United States and Russia face off publicly over Ukraine, behind the scenes, President Obama’s national security cabinet is having its own quiet feud over a long-standing agreement to allow Russian surveillance flights over U.S. airspace. The spies and the generals want to deny the Russians the overflight rights for its latest surveillance planes. The State Department, which ultimately makes that decision, has favored such certification. On Wednesday an interagency meeting of senior officials failed to reach consensus, delaying the decision until Obama takes it up with the National Security Council, according to U.S. officials involved in the dispute. At issue is the Open Skies Treaty. First signed in 1992 and finally ratified in 2002, the treaty adopted by 34 nations allows the safe passage of planes equipped with advanced cameras and sensors that give governments the imagery and data they use to assess everything from compliance with arms control treaties to troop movements. On April 15, the Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon, and the Republican chairman of that panel’s subcommittee that oversees the U.S. nuclear arsenal, Rep. Mike Rogers from Alabama, urged Obama to deny Russia the right to fly its new planes over U.S. airspace. In their letter, the two lawmakers write, “We agree with the concerns expressed by the Intelligence Community and the military leadership of the Department of Defense” in their opposition to certifying the new Russian planes under the treaty. The State Department on the other hand has argued the United States should live up to the treaty's obligations and approve the new Russian aircraft. The decision to certify the planes and their sensors has been pending since late last year, long before the Ukraine crisis began. One senior U.S. official said, “This isn’t just an issue between the United States and Russia. Our allies and partners depend on this treaty for insight into Russia because they don’t have the same capabilities as the United States.” The Russians use the aircraft today to monitor U.S. nuclear weapons as part of arms control agreements between both countries. The Russian planes, according to U.S. officials involved in the dispute, contain a new sensor package that would allow Moscow to surveil American nuclear assets with a level of precision and detail that makes U.S. military and intelligence leaders deeply uncomfortable. A letter first published by the Weekly Standard on April 13 from two Republican and two Democratic members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence said the Russian Federation had just completed construction of aircraft that will “support digital photograph equipment, sideways-looking synthetic aperture radar, and infrared equipment.” A U.S. official familiar with the dispute and sympathetic to the concerns of the military and intelligence community told The Daily Beast that the worry over the new Russian aircraft is independent of the standoff in Ukraine. “This would have been an issue even if there was no Ukraine crisis,” this official said. In some ways, however, the Ukraine showdown has placed pressure the White House to hold off on further angering the Russians. The State Department, which has worked with Russia to iron out at least an agreement in Issue No.1111, 18 April 2014 United States Air Force Center for Unconventional Weapons Studies | Maxwell AFB, Alabama http://cpc.au.af.mil \ https://twitter.com/USAF_CUWS Phone: 334.953.7538 | Fax: 334.953.7226 10 USAF Center for Unconventional Weapons Studies CUWS Outreach Journal Maxwell AFB, Alabama principle to begin to disarm the pro-Russian militias that have seized eastern Ukrainian cities, wants to allow the new Russian aircraft to fly over U.S. airspace. The Ukraine crisis has complicated the decision-making process on the Open Skies issue. Ukraine’s military has still failed to take back cities that have fallen to militias that Western leaders have said publicly are orchestrated by Russia’s special operations units known as the Spetsnaz. In Geneva, Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced the beginning of a process to de-escalate the crisis. But Lavrov also promised Kerry there were no military plans to take Crimea in late February, only to see Spetsnaz soldiers in uniforms without insignia take the peninsula's airports and government buildings. In Moscow on Thursday there was the most bizarre spectacle. Edward Snowden, the NSA contractor now wanted in U.S. court to face Espionage Act charges, asked Russia’s president whether his government collected as much Internet data as his old government did. Over the weekend in nearby Moldova inside the quasi-independent region of Transnistria, the United States observed Russian troop movements that looked like they may be preparing to launch stealth operations into southern Ukraine. Sporadic fighting also continued in eastern Ukrainian cities on Thursday. But nonetheless there were some signs that the fighting is coming to a pause. Lavrov on Thursday agreed to support the demobilization of the militias that Kerry himself said his government was responsible for helping organize. President Obama expressed cautious optimism that the agreement in Geneva could bring the region away from the brink of war. “I don’t think we can be sure of anything [in the Ukrainian crisis]. I think there is the possibility, the prospect, that diplomacy may de-escalate the situation,” he said at the White House. The White House convened a meeting of top deputies of its national security cabinet to discuss the issue on Wednesday. National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden declined to comment on that meeting. “Without prejudging the outcome of that review, I would note that the Open Skies Treaty enhances confidence and transparency by allowing the 34 countries that are parties to it to obtain information on the military forces and activities of other Treaty partners,” she said. “It contributes to European security by providing images and information on Russian forces, and by permitting observation flights to verify compliance with arms control agreements.” U.S. officials said the State Department favored granting the Open Skies certification for the new Russian aircraft. Jennifer Elzea, a Defense Department spokesperson, said, “The Defense Department does not have a comment to provide at this time. Treaty compliance issues are the purview of the State Department. Department of Defense components, specifically the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the Air Force, do provide personnel and aircraft for Open Skies observation flights, but overall treaty compliance issues fall to our colleagues at State.” http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/04/18/pentagon-moves-to-block-russian-spy-plane-in-american- skies.html#url=/articles/2014/04/18/pentagon-moves-to-block-russian-spy-plane-in-american-skies.html Return to Top

National Journal Boston Debates Banning Deadliest Pathogens from New Biolab By Diane Barnes, Global Security Newswire April 14, 2014

The Diplomat – Tokyo, Japan Putin Approves Sale of S-400 to China The advanced air and missile defense system will strengthen China vis-à-vis Taiwan, Japan and India. By Zachary Keck for The Diplomat April 11, 2014 Vladimir Putin has approved in principle the sale of Russia’s most advanced air and missile defense system to China, Russian media outlets have reported. According to a report on the Russian business channel RBK TV, which was reproduced by BBC Monitoring, Russian President Putin has approved the sale of between two and four S-400 air and missile defense systems to China. Such a deal has long been under negotiation, and if approved would make China the first foreign customer of the advanced defense system. Already, China deploys a number of the Soviet-era S-300 defense system. Despite the ongoing talks, some had felt that Russia would ultimately refuse to sell China the S-400 surface-to-air missile system for a number of reasons. First, there were reports that Russia planned to withhold all foreign sales of the S-400 until Moscow’s own military needs had been satisfied, sometime later this decade. More importantly, there were widespread concerns in Russian military circles that China would purchase a few of the systems with the intent of stealing the technology and reverse engineering a domestic version. This has been a common problem with military systems Russia has sold to China in the past. Russia and China have sought to overcome this problem by signing stronger intellectual property protection (IPP) agreements. One IPP agreement was signed in 2008, but Russian officials later dismissed it as being insufficient.

The Korea Herald – Seoul, South Korea S. Korea, U.S., Japan Lower Bar for Nuclear Talks with N. Korea April 14, 2014 South Korea, the United States and Japan have agreed to lower the bar on conditions for resuming long-stalled nuclear talks with North Korea, a diplomatic source with knowledge of the matter said Monday, saying Pyongyang must show its sincerity through the same pledges it made in a scuttled aid-for-disarmament deal with the U.S. more than two years ago. The agreement was reached at the trilateral talks in Washington last week among top nuclear envoys of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan. They listed several conditions, which were originally set by the U.S. and North Korea in February 2012, as steps the North should take before the resumption of the six-party talks, the source said on condition of anonymity. Under the so-called "Leap Day" deal between Washington and Pyongyang, North Korea agreed to suspend nuclear and long-range missile tests and allow international inspectors to monitor its nuclear sites in exchange for food aid. The deal fell apart when North Korea launched a long-range rocket two months later and conducted its third nuclear test a year later. Subsequently, South Korea, the U.S. and Japan had called on the North to take steps beyond what it agreed to in the "Leap Day" deal before resumption of the talks.

Yonhap News Agency – Seoul, South Korea China Issues Rare Public Warning over N. Korea's Nuclear Threat April 15, 2014 BEIJING, April 15 (Yonhap) -- China on Tuesday issued a rare public warning to North Korea not to carry out a nuclear test, saying it does not support the North's "threat of a nuclear test." "We do not support a joint military drill (between South Korea and the U.S.) nor support the threat of a nuclear test (by North Korea)," China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said, when asked about the current tensions on the Korean Peninsula. While China has long voiced opposition to annual military drills between South Korea and the U.S., it is rare for Beijing to issue a pointed warning to North Korea over possible provocations. Hua described the situation on the Korean Peninsula as "quite fragile," saying China "continues to play a positive role in ensuring the Korean Peninsula has a soft landing." Seoul and Pyongyang traded artillery fire into the waters across their tense Yellow Sea border and North Korea warned on March 31 that it could conduct a "new form" of nuclear test, indicating it might detonate a uranium- based device. http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/search1/2603000000.html?cid=AEN20140415007700315 Return to Top

Manila Standard Today – Manila, Philippines PH Won’t Ban Nuke-Capable US Ships under Pact By Joyce Pangco Panares April 15, 2014 Malacañang said nuclear-capable vessels of the United States will not be banned from entering the country under the proposed Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement between Manila and Washington. Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said what the 1987 Constitution specifically bans is the entry of vessels carrying nuclear weapons. “You have to draw the distinction between nuclear-capable as those carrying nuclear weapons because the distinction is very obvious in the Constitution,” Valte said. Philippine Ambassador to Washington Jose Cuisia said all forms of nuclear weapons will be prohibited in the country under the EDCA in accordance with the Constitution. Last year, the Palace had to explain to the public that the docking in Subic of the USS Cheyenne, a nuclear-powered submarine, did not violate the Constitution. The USS Cheyenne made a port of call in February 2013 for a “routine ship replenishment.”

Yonhap News Agency – Seoul, South Korea Allies Discuss Ways to Counter N. Korea's Nuclear, Missile Threats April 17, 2014 By Lee Chi-dong WASHINGTON, April 16 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United States agreed to hone their combined defense capabilities through more joint drills, as North Korea intensifies nuclear and missile threats, the allies said Wednesday after bilateral military talks here. At the two-day Korea-U.S. Integrated Defense Dialogue (KIDD), the two countries shared the view that North Korea's recent provocations undermine stability of the peninsula and the region, they said in a joint statement. They cited the North's missile launches and artillery fire in the Yellow Sea, the infiltration of small unmanned aerial vehicles and threats to carry out a fourth nuclear test. "The two sides discussed ways to strengthen the combined defense posture to defend the Republic of Korea and to deter North Korean aggression by enhancing combined alliance capabilities, and continuing combined exercises," read the statement.

ITAR-TASS News Agency – Moscow, Russia Russia's Space Defence Force Tests Launch Yars New Ballistic Missile “The main task of the launch was to confirm the reliability of a batch of missiles manufactured at the Votkinsk plant, in Udmurtia,” the Defence Ministry’s strategic missile force spokesman says April 14, 2014 Moscow, April 14. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s strategic missile force and air and space defence force have test-launched an inter-continental ballistic missile RS-24 with a multiple warhead from the Plesetsk space site. The missile blasted off from a mobile launcher at 10:40 Moscow time, the Defence Ministry’s strategic missile force spokesman, Colonel Igor Yegorov has said. “The main task of the launch was to confirm the reliability of a batch of missiles manufactured at the Votkinsk plant, in Udmurtia,” he said. The experimental warheads arrived at the designated area at the Kura testing range, in Kamchatka Peninsula. The objectives were achieved in full, Yegorov said. Yars construction RS-24 Yars was designed by the academician of Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology Yuri Solomonov. This missile is based on scientific, technical and technological solutions implemented in a rocket complex Topol-M, which significantly reduced the time and cost to create it. Adopting RS-24 with a multiple warhead increased combat capabilities of Russia’s strategic missile force to overcome missile defense systems, thereby strengthening the nuclear deterrence potential of the Russian strategic nuclear forces. This missile replaced ICBM RS -12M Topol, RS-18 Stiletto. "In future, the SS-24 mobile groups form the basis of the Strategic Missile Forces, which will be capable guarantee the security of the country and its allies until the middle of the XXI century," Yegorov said. http://en.itar-tass.com/russia/727666 Return to Top

BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) News – London, U.K. 14 April 2014 Scottish Independence: Trident Negotiations Not Ruled Out Trident nuclear weapons could be part of any negotiations if Scotland votes "Yes" in the independence referendum, Downing Street has indicated. The prime minister's official spokesman said negotiations would take place in "a whole range of areas". It came after a newspaper quoted the defence secretary as saying "everything will be on the table" in talks. The Scottish government said the comments showed UK ministers would negotiate on a currency union as well. Scottish ministers are committed to removing nuclear weapons from Scotland after independence, and have denied suggestions they would ditch the policy in return for a formal currency union in the event of a "Yes" vote in September's referendum. Defence Secretary Philip Hammond is due to make a major speech in Glasgow on Tuesday. According to the Herald newspaper, Mr Hammond said in an interview ahead of the speech that, in the event of a "Yes" vote: "You can't go into any negotiation with things that are non-negotiable". 'Nothing non-negotiable' Asked whether any issue would be treated in isolation, Mr Hammond was quoted as responding: "No. It's all in. There will be nothing non-negotiable. Everything will be on the table."

The London Daily Telegraph – London, U.K. Alex Salmond's Trident Plan 'Would Put UK Nuclear Deterrent in Jeopardy' First Minister warned by senior ex-defence chiefs that scrapping Trident will endanger jobs and cast 'dark shadow' over relations with allies By Ben Riley-Smith, Scottish Political Reporter

RIA Novosti – Russian Information Agency First Borey-Class Strategic Sub Ready for Combat Patrols - Russian Navy 16 April 2014 GADZHIYEVO (Murmansk region), April 16 (RIA Novosti) – The first Borey-class ballistic missile submarine could be put on combat duty this year after taking weaponry on board, a senior Russian Navy commander said Wednesday. "Upon receiving new weapons on board this year, the Yury Dolgoruky submarine will be ready to perform its duties," said Rear Admiral Alexander Moiseev, commander of the submarine forces of the Northern Fleet. The Yury Dolgoruky joined the Northern Fleet in January 2013 while the second Borey-class boat, the Alexander Nevsky, was commissioned by the Navy in December last year. The third boat, the Vladimir Monomakh, is undergoing sea and state trials, and the fourth Borey-class submarine, the Knyaz Vladimir, has been under construction at the Sevmash shipyard in northern Russia since July 2012. The Borey is Russia’s first post-Soviet ballistic missile submarine class and will form the mainstay of the strategic submarine fleet, replacing aging Typhoon, Delta-3 and Delta-4 class boats. Russia expects eight Borey-class submarines to enter service by 2020. The new Borey-class boats, with a length of nearly two football fields, can carry sixteen Bulava missiles, each fitted with up to 10 independently-targetable nuclear warheads. Ballistic missile submarines comprise one leg of Russia’s strategic nuclear triad along with land-based ICBMs and the bomber force. http://en.ria.ru/military_news/20140416/189245693/First-Borey-Class-Strategic-Sub-Ready-for-Combat-Patrols-- .html Return to Top

RT (Russia Today) – Moscow, Russia 2,300 Tubes Containing SARS Virus Samples Missing in France April 17, 2014 A major French biomedical research body, the Pasteur Institute, have launched an investigation into the disappearance of some 2,300 test tubes containing samples of the SARS virus. The loss was discovered during an inventory. The Pasteur Institute filed a so-called 'complaint against X' on Monday over the lost SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) samples. According to French law, such complaints allow law enforcement agencies to investigate a certain case, without targeting specific individuals or companies. The distinguished research body has also announced it has closed its P3 laboratory, where the samples of the potentially deadly virus were kept. "Human error is the most probable reason, but we do not exclude anything,” the Institute’s Director General, Christian Bréchot, said, according to AFP.

The Huffington Post.com Putin: NATO Enlargement Pushed Russia to Annex Crimea Reuters April 17, 2014 MOSCOW, April 17 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said Russia had been forced to respond to NATO enlargement and that its annexation of Crimea, home to its Black Sea Fleet, was partly influenced by the Western military alliance's expansion into eastern Europe. Putin said Moscow will respond if the United States moves ahead with plans to base elements of a missile defense shield in eastern Europe, accusing Washington of fueling a Cold War-style arms race. "When the infrastructure of a military bloc is moving toward our borders, it causes us some concerns and questions. We need to take some steps in response," Putin said in a televised call-in with the nation. "Our decision on Crimea was partly due to ... considerations that if we do nothing, then at some point, guided by the same principles, NATO will drag Ukraine in and they will say: 'It doesn't have anything to do with you.'" Putin accused the military bloc of 28 nations of seeking to squeeze Russia out of its historic stomping ground in the Black Sea region, where Russian warships are based in the Tsarist-era city of Sevastopol. "NATO ships would have ended up in the city of Russian navy glory, Sevastopol," Putin said. Putin said Moscow wants to continue talks with Washington over its objections to U.S. missile defence plans, but would take all steps necessary to ensure its security. The Ukraine crisis has left ties between Russia and the West at their lowest ebb since the Cold War.

RIA Novosti – Russian Information Agency Britain's Missile Range More Important To NATO Than Nuclear Submarine Fleet – Scottish Minister 18 April 2014 GLASGOW, April 18 (RIA Novosti) – Britain’s biggest missile range is of more strategic importance to NATO and the UK than its nuclear submarine fleet based at Faslane, Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has claimed. The missile facility, based in the Outer Hebrides on Scotland’s extreme west coast, was established in 1950 and employs around 200 staff. Concerns have been raised locally over its future if Scotland chooses independence in an upcoming referendum. But during a visit to the Isle of Lewis, First Minister Alex Salmond dismissed concerns claiming the facility would be even more important to the local economy if Scotland declared independence. “The Scots’ position in the northwest corner of Europe, our strategic position in the Atlantic, means such facilities are going to be absolutely required and that is what Scotland will be expected to do," Salmond said. “And they will be of fundamentally more importance to the defense of Scotland and the NATO alliance and the future of Europe than, for example, weapons of mass destruction on the Clyde.” The Scottish Government currently advocates NATO membership for Scotland if voters back independence, but insists it would demand the immediate removal of the UK’s Trident fleet, based at Faslane. The UK Ministry of Defense, which is proposing to expand testing at the Hebrides missile facility to allow training on unmanned military drones, accused the first minister of hypocrisy. “It is inconsistent for those who advocate Scottish independence both to oppose nuclear weapons and still wish to join Nato, which is a nuclear alliance,” a spokesman for the ministry told RIA Novosti. “The Hebrides ranges remain a key capability for the test and evaluation of the UK’s weapons and recent investments clearly demonstrate the MoD’s long-term commitment to the site,” the spokesman added. John Finnie an independent Member of the Scottish Parliament, whose Highlands and Islands constituency includes the missile range told RIA Novosti “an independent Scotland, like every other nation, will require to assess the risks it faces. That assessment will show that continuity of energy supply, food and water, cyber-attack and terrorist attack are what need to be considered first with territorial threats minimal. Finnie, who publicly resigned from the ruling Scottish National Party after it narrowly voted in favour of a policy that seeks NATO membership after independence added "rather than continue with the outlook and language of

FARS News Agency – Tehran, Iran Sunday, April 13, 2014 AEOI Chief: Iran Entitled to Enrich Uranium to 90% Grade TEHRAN (FNA) - Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi underlined that the country is entitled to enrich uranium to the level of 90%, and said Tehran plans to build four new nuclear plants with Russians' help. "Firstly, we believe that we are entitled to any right that any NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) and (International Atomic Energy) Agency member has, which means that enrichment (of uranium) from 1% to 90% is our right," Salehi said in a televised interview on Sunday. He said that Iran has accepted to limit its enrichment program to the level of 5% only in a voluntary move based on the Geneva deal inked between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany) sealed in November. Elsewhere, Salehi announced Iran's plans to build four other nuclear power plants in the coming years, and said the construction work for the establishment of Iran's second power plant would start this (Iranian) year and the same trend would continue for the construction of three more plans every other year. He said that Iran seeks to build its next nuclear power plants through joint cooperation between the country's experts and their Russian counterparts. Iran is under four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions for turning down West's calls to give up its right of uranium enrichment, saying the demand is politically tainted and illogical. Iran has so far ruled out halting or limiting its nuclear work in exchange for trade and other incentives, saying that renouncing its rights under the NPT would encourage the world powers to put further pressure on the country and would not lead to a change in the West's hardline stance on Tehran. Iran has also insisted that it would continue enriching uranium because it needs to provide fuel to a 300-megawatt light-water reactor it is building in the Southwestern town of Darkhoveyn as well as its first nuclear power plant in the Southern port city of Bushehr. http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13930124000768 Return to Top

Tehran Times – Tehran, Iran Israel Possesses at Least 300 Nuclear Warheads: Carter World Desk Monday, 14 April 2014 Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter says that Israel has at least 300 nuclear warheads which is far more dangerous than estimates that are being hypothetically made about Iran’s potential access to nuclear weapons. “Well, you know, if they [Iran] got one nuclear weapon, Israel has, what, 300 or more, nobody knows exactly how many,” Carter told MSNBC in an interview earlier this week.

Gulf News.com – Dubai, U.A.E. Iran Official Concerned over Fate of Nuclear Power Plant Nuclear chief says 30,000 more centrifuges needed to enrich uranium and produce enough nuclear fuel to run the power plant By Associated Press Monday, April 14, 2014 Iran's nuclear chief has raised concerns for the fate of the country's only running atomic power plant amid talks with the West about a final deal to curb Tehran's controversial nuclear program, a newspaper reported on Monday. The government-run daily "Iran" quoted Ali Akbar Salehi, the Iranian negotiator in talks with six world powers, as saying that Iran needs 30,000 more centrifuges to enrich uranium and produce enough nuclear fuel to run its Bushehr power plant for a year. World powers negotiating a final nuclear deal with Iran want a reduction — not an increase — in the number of centrifuges Tehran is operating to remove concerns that the Islamic Republic may use its enrichment capabilities to build a nuclear weapon. Centrifuges enrich uranium to produce nuclear fuel but can also be a pathway to atomic arms, depending on the level of enrichment. Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only, such as generating electricity and producing radioisotopes to treat cancer patients. The Bushehr plant, near the southern port city with the same name, was made with Russian help and has been online since 2011. Russia provides fuel for the 1,000-megawatt facility, but Iran says it wants to be self-sufficient and not remain dependent on foreign suppliers for nuclear fuel. According to Salehi, Iran needs 50,000 centrifuges to make enough nuclear fuel for Bushehr for one year. It currently has about 20,000 centrifuges — but only around 9,000 of them are spinning and enriching uranium. If a definite deal with world powers is reached, it's unlikely it would allow Tehran to install the additional centrifuges. "To meet the annual fuel needs of the Bushehr plant, we must have 50,000 first generation centrifuges in order to be able to produce 30 tons of nuclear fuel a year," Salehi said. He added that under a bill, the government is required to generate 20,000 megawatts of electricity from nuclear power plants in the next 15 years.

Xinhua News – Beijing, China Syria Misses Deadline for Chemical Weapons Removal: OPCW-UN Mission April 15, 2014 UNITED NATIONS, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The international mission in charge of removing chemical weapons in Syria has voiced its concerns that Syria has missed the April 13 deadline, which Damascus pledged to get rid of all its stockpiles of chemical weapons by Sunday, a UN spokesman told reporters here Monday. In response to questions about Syria's pledge to remove all chemical weapons by April 13, except those in "inaccessible areas", UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here that the Joint Mission of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the United Nations (OPCW-UN) said "they were concerned that Syria has missed the 13 April timeline." "It expects an intensification of efforts and immediate action to initiate the high pace and scale of operations for the removal of all chemical weapons materials as safely as possible by 27 April," Dujarric said. "Missing the 27 April timeline could have serious impact on the completion of the elimination of Syria's chemical weapons program by 30 June." "It is up to the member states to discuss the progress of the operation, based on factual input from the Joint Mission," he said, adding that the current pace "is of serious concern" for the mission. Earlier Monday, the OPCW said in The Hague that about 65 percent of chemical weapons have been removed from Syria. "The Syrian government has completed the delivery of another 13th batch of chemical agents. It was put on a ship and taken out of the country," the organization said. "The previous batch was evacuated on April 10." All in all, the amount of chemical weapons removed from Syria has achieved 65.1 percent, including 57.4 percent priority ones, which are the most risky, the OPWC said. The removal of the most critical material for destruction began in early January, in line with an agreement brokered by Russia and the United States under which Syria renounced its chemical weapons material and joined 1992 Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-04/15/c_133261841.htm Return to Top

FARS News Agency – Tehran, Iran Wednesday, April 16, 2014 DM: Iran's Missile Capabilities No Subject for Nuclear Talks

Al Arabiya – Dubai, U.A.E. Zarif: No Fear of Hardliners on Nuclear Deal By Michelle Moghtader, Reuters, Abu Dhabi Wednesday, 16 April 2014 Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said he does not fear opposition from hardliners as he leads negotiations to reach a comprehensive agreement about Iran's nuclear program with world powers by the end of July. “I am optimistic” that a deal will be reached in three months, he told Reuters in Abu Dhabi. “There is the political will to get an answer,” he added as he boarded a plane back to Tehran on Tuesday. Iran and six world powers - the United States, France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China - struck an interim deal in November under which Tehran agreed to limit parts of its nuclear work in return for the easing of some sanctions imposed on Iran for its disputed atomic program. They have set a July 20 deadline to clinch a long-term deal that would lead to a gradual lifting of all nuclear-related sanctions.

Trend News – Baku, Azerbaijan Syrian Activists Report New Poison Gas Attack April 17, 2014 Syrian opposition activists said Wednesday that President Bashar al-Assad's forces used poison gas once again in the Damascus suburb of Harasta, Al Arabiya News Channel reported. Footage of four men being treated by medics was posted on the internet. A voice off-screen gave the date and said Assad's forces used "poison gas in Harasta." It did not say if there were fatalities. The face of one of the men appeared to be covered in vomit. He was shown shaking and moaning as doctors treated him. The voice off-screen said chemical weapons were also used in Harasta on Friday. Activists said the chemical attack was the fourth that has been reported this month. Last week, the Syrian opposition reported another attack in the Harasta neighborhood. The Shaam News Network said that at least 100 residents were in critical condition. The opposition Syrian Coalition issued a statement condemning the alleged attack using "poison gas and highly concentrated pesticides." "Assad is dragging his feet over the elimination of the chemical weapons arsenal, missing a series of deadlines while at the same time spraying people with gas on a scale- he thinks- small enough to avoid world condemnation," said Badr Jamous, Syrian Coalition Secretary General, in the statement. White House spokesman Jay Carney said the U.S. was working with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to check on whether the Syrian government was abiding to the 2013 deal on the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons stockpile. Members of the Syrian opposition have in recent months accused Assad's regime of using chemical arms in a number of attacks including in the two Damascus suburbs of Harasta and Jobar. U.S. and British officials are reportedly investigating claims that Assad's forces have used chemical weapons in at least four attacks around Damascus between January and April.

Daily Times – Lahore, Pakistan Iran Cuts Sensitive Nuclear Stockpile, Key Plant Delayed Reuters April 18, 2014 VIENNA: Iran has acted to cut its most sensitive nuclear stockpile by nearly 75 percent in implementing a landmark pact with world powers, but a planned facility it will need to fulfill the six-month deal has been delayed, a UN report showed on Thursday. The monthly update by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has a pivotal role in verifying that Iran is living up to its part of the accord, made clear that Iran so far is undertaking the agreed steps to curb its nuclear program. As a result, Iran is gradually gaining access to some previously blocked overseas funds. Japan has made two more payments totaling $1 billion to Iran for crude imports, two sources with knowledge of the transactions said. Under the breakthrough agreement that took effect on January 20, Iran halted some parts of its disputed nuclear program in exchange for a limited easing of international sanctions that have battered the major oil producer’s economy. It was designed to buy time for negotiations on a permanent settlement of the decade-old dispute over nuclear activities that Iran says are peaceful but the West fears may be aimed at developing atomic bomb capability. Those talks got under way in February and the next meeting is due on May 13 in Vienna. The IAEA update showed that Iran had - as stipulated by the November 24 agreement with the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia - diluted half of its higher-grade enriched uranium reserve to a fissile content less prone to bomb proliferation. One of the payments from Japan, of $450 million on April 15, was contingent on Iran meeting this target. It has also continued to convert the other half of its holding of uranium gas refined to a 20 percent fissile purity - a relatively short technical stage below 90 percent weapons-grade material - into oxide for making reactor fuel. Together, Iran has in the last three months either diluted or fed into the conversion process a total of almost 155 kg (340 pounds) of its higher-grade uranium gas, which amounted to 209 kg when the deal took effect. That will be seen as a positive development by Western powers as it lengthens the time Iran would need for any effort to produce a nuclear weapon. Iran says it is only refining uranium to fuel nuclear reactors, not to make bombs. The IAEA report also pointed to a new delay in Iran’s construction of a facility that is designed to turn low-enriched uranium gas (LEU) into oxide powder that is not suitable for further processing into highly-enriched bomb-grade uranium.

Press TV – Tehran, Iran Iran Will Not Close down Nuclear Facilities: Cleric Friday, April 18, 2014 A senior Iranian cleric says the Islamic Republic will never shut down its nuclear facilities including a heavy-water reactor in central Iran. Addressing worshippers at weekly Friday Prayers in Tehran, Kazem Seddiqi said Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has clearly noted that neither Arak heavy water facility, nor other nuclear sites will be shut down. He added that Iran decided to enrich uranium up to 20-percent purity after the United States scuttled a deal reached between Iran and world countries to provide feedstock to Tehran Research Reactor. The Iranian cleric added that if the arrogant powers managed to stop Iran’s nuclear fuel cycle, it would also bring production in other sectors to a halt and the country’s economy would be further disrupted. Seddiqi also echoed recent calls by Ayatollah Khamenei that Iran’s nuclear activities are unstoppable, adding that as put by the Leader, “…we will not give up any of achievements made by our scientists in peaceful nuclear energy at any price.” Seddiqi’s remarks come as a fresh round of high-level nuclear talks between Iran and the six world powers – the United States, France, Britain, Russia, China and Germany – is scheduled to begin in the Austrian capital, Vienna, on May 13. On Thursday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Iran is complying with the terms of an interim nuclear agreement struck between the Islamic Republic and the six world powers late last year. Under the November deal, which took effect in January, the six powers have undertaken to provide Iran with some sanctions relief in exchange for the Islamic Republic agreeing to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities during a six-month period.

Hindustan Times – New Delhi, India BJP Rules Out Major Change to Nuclear Policy Agence France-Presse (AFP) April 14, 2014 New Delhi -- The head of opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), tipped to win ongoing national elections, has ruled out any change in the country's "no-first-use" nuclear weapons policy. The BJP sparked speculation about an end to the doctrine last week when its manifesto said that the party would "revise and update" India's policy. "The no-first-use policy for nuclear weapons was a well thought out stand... We don't intend to reverse it," BJP President Rajnath Singh told the Hindustan Times newspaper in an interview published Monday. The policy was adopted after a series of nuclear tests in 1998 during the last BJP-led coalition government which led to international condemnation and an embargo being placed on the country by Western powers. The policy was intended to gain greater acceptability as a nuclear power, despite it not being a signatory of the 1970 UN Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty which aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. The BJP is predicted to clinch power under elections which began on April 7 and end with results on May 16. Any BJP government under hardline prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, a proud nationalist promising strong leadership, is expected to have a more muscular foreign policy. Any change in nuclear policy would be of most significance to India's rivals Pakistan and China. Neither reacted to news of the possible review and analysts have pointed out that the "no-first-use" policy is a mere promise that could be ignored by New Delhi in a conflict situation. China was the first country to adopt the "no-first-use" nuclear policy in 1964, but nuclear-rival Pakistan, with whom India has fought three wars, does not have a similar position. http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/bjp-rules-out-major-change-to-nuclear-policy/article1-1207883.aspx Return to Top

The Hindu – Chennai, India India to Conduct Complex Interceptor Missile Test By Y. Mallikarjun April 14, 2014 HYDERABAD -- In another fortnight, India will be conducting one of the most complex interceptor missile tests. For the first time a state-of-the-art interceptor missile at supersonic speed will seek to engage and destroy an incoming target missile at a very high altitude of 120-140 km over the Bay of Bengal. Entirely new interceptor and target missiles have been developed by scientists of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for the upcoming engagement, to be conducted in exo-atmosphere (altitude above 40-50 km) on April 27 or 28. The test was originally planned to be conducted in November, 2013 but had been delayed since then. A real battle-like scenario would be simulated for the test, DRDO missile technologists told The Hindu. For the first time, the interceptor missile (PDV) would be seeking to destroy the separating payload of the target missile (a modified PAD) after discriminating between the booster and the payload. Issue No.1111, 18 April 2014 United States Air Force Center for Unconventional Weapons Studies | Maxwell AFB, Alabama http://cpc.au.af.mil \ https://twitter.com/USAF_CUWS Phone: 334.953.7538 | Fax: 334.953.7226 31 USAF Center for Unconventional Weapons Studies CUWS Outreach Journal Maxwell AFB, Alabama Describing it as a “big challenge,” they said the interceptor’s “kill vehicle,” equipped with a dual seeker, would attack the payload (warhead portion) as it descends towards its intended target. The advantage of intercepting an incoming missile at such a high altitude was that the debris would not fall on the ground and there would be no collateral damage. Both the new missiles have been configured to have two stages. While the target missile would be launched from a ship near Paradip, the interceptor would take off from Wheeler Island the moment the incoming target missile is detected. The long range radars would track the missile and the information would be passed on to the interceptor’s on-board computer as it homes in on to the target. From detection to interception, the entire exercise would be fully automated and there would be no human intervention, the scientists said. The kill vehicle of the interceptor, equipped with an attitude control mechanism, would hurtle towards the target’s missile payload at a speed of 1500 metres per second as it seeks to engage and destroy it. After some more trials, India plans to deploy a two-tiered Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) system to protect important cities from external threats. In the first phase, incoming enemy missiles of 2,000-km range are envisaged to be waylaid and destroyed, while those with about 5,000-km range would be tackled by the interceptors in the second phase. So far, six of the seven interceptor missile tests, carried out by the DRDO, have been successful. While two interceptions were conducted in exo-atmopshere (altitudes between 47 and 80 km) the rest were in endo- atmosphere (below 40 km altitude). http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-to-conduct-complex-interceptor-missile-test/article5908926.ece Return to Top

The Boston Globe – Boston, MA OPINION/Editorial ‘Level 4’ Disease Research Can Be Safe, Belongs in America’s Medical Capital Editorial Sunday, April 13, 2014 FEW DISASTER scenarios capture the anxieties of our age like the sudden emergence of a deadly, invisible disease in a vulnerable population. In the anthrax attacks after 9/11, which were never conclusively solved, a biological agent took the lives of victims who had the misfortune of being exposed to the wrong pieces of mail. Films such as “Outbreak” and “Contagion” contemplate the consequences of deadly microbes proliferating with the help of air travel and the health care system itself. These are precisely the kind of events that Boston University’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories facility will prevent, but only if it is allowed to do the kind of research for which it was painstakingly designed and constructed. Next week, a Boston City Council committee will hold a hearing on Councilor Charles Yancey’s proposed ordinance to ban level 4 research at the biolab. To pass such a measure would be to overestimate any danger that the biolab poses to nearby residents — and to retreat from the singular role that Boston plays as the world’s greatest repository of life-saving expertise. The very existence of the $200 million BU biolab, built mostly with funding from the National Institutes of Health, recognizes that scientific knowledge is humanity’s greatest safeguard against infectious disease. But understanding how to counter so-called level 4 pathogens, which are harmful or deadly to humans and in nearly every case are untreatable, requires working with them. The need to transport such pathogens to a laboratory in an urban setting, along with their continued presence in the building, raises legitimate safety concerns: What happens if a vehicle carrying a level 4 pathogen gets into an accident? What if an act of terrorism or an act of nature breaches

Newsweek Magazine.com OPINION/Article

Issue No.1111, 18 April 2014 United States Air Force Center for Unconventional Weapons Studies | Maxwell AFB, Alabama http://cpc.au.af.mil \ https://twitter.com/USAF_CUWS Phone: 334.953.7538 | Fax: 334.953.7226 33 USAF Center for Unconventional Weapons Studies CUWS Outreach Journal Maxwell AFB, Alabama After Ukraine, Countries That Border Russia Start Thinking About Nuclear Deterrents By Elisabeth Braw April 15, 2014 So much for a world without the atomic bomb. Not so long ago, President Barack Obama said he believed such a future was in the cards. Now, after Russia's annexation of Crimea, not so much. Many states in Russia's neighborhood are giving new attention to nuclear protection. "Although there's a very small risk of Russia acting against Poland, that risk is much bigger now than it was just a few weeks ago," Stanislaw Koziej, head of Poland's National Security Bureau, tells Newsweek. The most important deterrence, he says, is "NATO solidarity and the presence of the U.S. military in Europe. Nuclear deterrence is a very important factor that NATO has at its disposal, and it's becoming increasingly important." That's a very different tone from the one struck by Radoslaw Sikorski, Poland's foreign minister, four years ago, when he proposed a treaty to limit nuclear weapons in Europe. Indeed, Sikorski himself invoked nuclear rhetoric earlier this spring when calling for sanctions against Russia. Twenty years ago, Ukraine was the world's third largest nuclear weapons state, behind only Russia and the United States. Then it signed a treaty voluntarily handing over its arsenal to Russia, in exchange for guarantees that Russia would respect its borders. As the annexation of Crimea has shown, that pledge was worth little. The message received over the past few months by countries bordering the Russian Federation is: If you have nuclear weapons, never given them up; if you don't, try to get the Americans to shield you with theirs. Five years ago, speaking to a jubilant 20,000-strong crowd in front of Prague's famous castle, newly elected President Obama outlined his vision for eliminating nuclear weapons. And a quarter century after the end of the Cold War, the 180 American nuclear weapons stationed in Germany, Belgium, Holland, Italy and Turkey seemed like a leftover. But Peter Doran, director of research at the Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington, D.C., and co-author of a new report on security in Central and Eastern Europe, says, "Crimea has changed the world. The treaties—the U.N. Charter, the Helsinki Final Act, the Budapest Memorandum, the NATO—Russia Founding Act and the Russo-Ukrainian Treaty of 1997-that created peace in Europe for the past 20 years have been called into question by the invasion and annexation of Crimea. Georgia was the first sign that Vladimir Putin is a revisionist. Then came Ukraine. What will the third country be?" The Baltic states are the most anxious. They enjoyed only two decades of independence after World War II before being annexed by the Soviet Union. Though they've been independent since 1991, Estonia and Latvia in particular host large Russian minorities (25 and 26 percent, respectively). The fear is that, just like in Crimea, the Russians could use that as a pretext for interfering and making trouble. "Of course we're worried," says Ants Laaneots, Estonia's former commander in chief, who served as outgoing Prime Minister Andrus Ansip's military adviser until Ansip's term ended last month. "The Russians are following a doctrine that includes restoring control over the post-Soviet space." Laaneots, an officer in the Soviet Red Army until Estonia's independence, predicts that Moldova and the breakaway republic of Transnistria will be first, then the Baltic states. He also knows General Valery Gerasimov, Russia's chief of general staff, who in the 1990s commanded Russia's forces in the Baltics. "He's a professional, by no means an extremist," Laaneots says. "Unfortunately, it's politicians who are giving the commands." On April 2, NATO suspended cooperation with Russia. When the NATO-Russia Council was established in 2002, it was in the collaborative post-9/11 spirit. NATO's members and Russia agreed to "work towards achieving a true strategic and modernized partnership...with the aim of contributing to the creation of a common space of peace, security and stability." And the allies' joint efforts have made a difference on the ground: They've trained Afghan counter-narcotics officers and taught Afghan soldiers how to maintain and repair their vehicles. They've Issue No.1111, 18 April 2014 United States Air Force Center for Unconventional Weapons Studies | Maxwell AFB, Alabama http://cpc.au.af.mil \ https://twitter.com/USAF_CUWS Phone: 334.953.7538 | Fax: 334.953.7226 34 USAF Center for Unconventional Weapons Studies CUWS Outreach Journal Maxwell AFB, Alabama collaborated on nonproliferation—stopping terrorists and rogue states from getting material for weapons of mass destruction—and anti-piracy. They've even developed joint anti-missile plans. Russia may, of course, stop at Crimea, but fears of Russian aggression have rekindled interest in America's nuclear arsenal in Europe. "Nobody is expecting a large-scale Russian invasion," says Jiri Schneider, the Czech deputy foreign minister until earlier this year. "But what Russia is doing is provocation, and we have to show some muscle." That, according to people in Schneider's camp, means maintaining the United States's nuclear arsenal in Europe and modernizing the planes that carry the weapons. Altogether, the U.S. possesses 1,950 nuclear warheads—180 of them based in Europe. Additionally, France has 300 weapons—either mounted in planes or as missiles on submarines, while Britain possesses 225 submarine-mounted warheads (about to be reduced to 180), according to the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), whose Nuclear Weapons Database counts as the most reliable source on global nuclear arsenals. China, in turn, is thought to have some 250 bombs. Russia, in other words, faces more nuclear threats in the region than 180 American bombs. But since France doesn't share its arsenal with NATO, and Britain's arsenal is based in Britain, their bombs are small consolation to worried NATO allies. The database estimates that Russia has some 2,000 tactical warheads on its European territory. With its nuclear aircraft scheduled for retirement in the 2020s, Germany has opted not to extend its nuclear- hosting duties. That's where NATO's newer member states see an opening. One Washington analyst reports that a Central European official recently told him, "If the Germans don't want [the bombs], we'll take them." In a new report, Doran and several co-authors, including The Economist's Europe editor Edward Lucas, argue that since Russia violated international treaties by annexing Crimea, NATO can renege on its promise not to base nuclear weapons in former Warsaw Pact states. Russia would consider such a step an arrogant provocation. But moving nukes to former Warsaw Pact states is not radical, argues Doran: "Invading another country, like Russia just did, is radical." Alexey Puskhov, the chairman of Russia's Duma Committee on Foreign Relations, declined to be interviewed for this article. Some strategists in Central and Eastern Europe believe that now is the time for Europeans to get more involved with running NATO's nuclear operations. "Nuclear deterrence in Europe should have some kind of European participation, simply for reasons of burden sharing," says Schneider. "Nuclear deterrence shouldn't just be a matter in the hands of the U.S. military but also have a European military element. Besides, it's not an appealing thought for U.S. taxpayers that Europeans should pay nothing for their nuclear deterrence." Though he no longer speaks on behalf of the government, Schneider says the Czech Republic would join like- minded allies in such an arrangement. Poland, which already has F-16 aircraft that can be converted to carry nuclear weapons, is another potential participant. The former U.S. defense secretary, Robert Gates, admitted that American lawmakers increasingly question the expense of defending Europe. "Of course Russia will complain about [former Warsaw Pact states involved in NATO nuclear operations], but we're talking about 200 to 300 NATO nuclear weapons in Europe, compared to thousands in Russia," argues Schneider. "We used to turn a blind eye to this imbalance, but that time is over now." Officials in the region call Obama's Prague speech "naive" and "unenforceable." Such talk is, of course, the opposite of Obama's Prague disarmament plans. "The people who've been arguing for a continued role for nuclear weapons are milking the [Ukraine] crisis for all it's worth," says Hans Kristensen, director of the Federation of American Scientists' Nuclear Information Project. "But NATO has no interest in increasing the role of nuclear weapons in Europe. It's not going to say, 'Gee, now we have to base tactical nuclear weapons further east.' The alliance isn't doing itself a favor if it allows such expectations to build up among its newer members." Pavel Podvig, a veteran Russian nuclear expert, says Central and Eastern European states have long been concerned about how committed NATO really is to them. "So they're trying to build more direct relations with the

RIA Novosti – Russian Information Agency OPINION/Article OPINION: NATO Poses No Credible Threat to Russia 17 April 2014 MOSCOW, April 17 (RIA Novosti) – NATO poses no credible threat to Russia, especially as many of the key members of the alliance have cut their military budgets, experts told RIA Novosti, commenting on statements by Russian President Vladimir Putin made Thursday. During a live question and answer session with the public on Thursday, Putin said that Russia is not afraid of NATO expansion. “We will choke them all. What are you afraid of?” Putin said while answering a question on the expansion of NATO. The president also said that Russia would continue to negotiate with the US on missile defense, but would also take all necessary measures to protect its territory. "If we talk about the organization as such, it is stated in our foreign policy concept that NATO is not a threat to us. Now the actions of NATO can be a threat to us,” said Alexander Mikhaylenko, a professor at the Russian Presidential Academy of the National Economy and Public Administration. “It is absolutely unacceptable to have military bases at our doorstep," he told RIA Novosti. "All countries, including the US, are reducing military spending. Personally, I think the future of NATO is highly questionable. Perhaps, Vladimir Putin meant that hardly any of the NATO countries would like to enter into a war," Mikhaylenko added.

The Hill – Washington, D.C. OPINION/Congress Blog April 17, 2014 How to Fix the President’s Ballistic Missile Defense policy By Jonathan Bergner In the wake of the Crimean crisis, a growing chorus of Republican lawmakers and conservative thinkers have called for a reassessment of the president’s European missile defense policy. Charles Krauthammer, Dick Cheney, and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) are among those who have faulted President Obama’s 2009 and 2013 decisions to cancel missile defense plans in Europe. The substance of the critique is correct – the president has been insufficiently committed to ballistic missile defense and overly confident in the efficacy of his “reset” with Russia. However, there is an opportunity here not simply to go after the president’s weakness on the world stage, but also to move the reality of an effective BMD shield forward. Proponents of a robust BMD system would do well to consider carefully the best and most realistic course of action. While Obama seemed motivated by the fantasy that unilateral accessions to Russian demands would strengthen our relationship with Russia, one should not overstate his decisions as a complete abandonment of European missile defense. In 2009, the president announced the cancellation of the deployment of 10 ground-based, midcourse ballistic missile interceptors (GBIs) in Poland and an advanced radar in the Czech Republic. However, this was to be replaced with the European Phased Adaptive Approach (EPAA), a system utilizing the Aegis BMD system and including two land-based interceptor sites in Poland and Romania. When the fourth phase of the EPAA – which utilized the Standard Missile-3 Block IIB – was cancelled last March, much of the follow-on discussion focused on whether the president had exercised his post-election “flexibility” to bow to Russian demands. But this was the right move – the Block IIB was an unproven and untested paper concept with costly and time-consuming development issues. Nor did the decision eliminate the plans to create land-based interceptor sites, each to be equipped with 24 variants of the SM-3 (Blocks IA, IB, and IIA). Calls to revisit the Obama administration’s BMD decisions are all to the good – the U.S. and its allies would benefit from a fundamental recommitment to development of a robust defense against ballistic missiles. But this does not mean simply reversing every decision the president made. For example, some have suggested that the best way to signal to Putin that we mean business is to push forward on the deployment of the Block IIB. This would be a mistake.

ABOUT THE USAF CUWS The USAF Counterproliferation Center was established in 1998 at the direction of the Chief of Staff of the Air Force. Located at Maxwell AFB, this Center capitalizes on the resident expertise of Air University, while extending its reach far beyond - and influences a wide audience of leaders and policy makers. A memorandum of agreement between the Air Staff Director for Nuclear and Counterproliferation (then AF/XON), now AF/A5XP) and Air War College Commandant established the initial manpower and responsibilities of the Center. This included integrating counterproliferation awareness into the curriculum and ongoing research at the Air University; establishing an information repository to promote research on counterproliferation and nonproliferation issues; and directing research on the various topics associated with counterproliferation and nonproliferation . The Secretary of Defense's Task Force on Nuclear Weapons Management released a report in 2008 that recommended "Air Force personnel connected to the nuclear mission be required to take a professional military education (PME) course on national, defense, and Air Force concepts for deterrence and defense." As a result, the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, in coordination with the AF/A10 and Air Force Global Strike Command, established a series of courses at Kirtland AFB to provide continuing education through the careers of those Air Force personnel working in or supporting the nuclear enterprise. This mission was transferred to the Counterproliferation Center in 2012, broadening its mandate to providing education and research to not just countering WMD but also nuclear deterrence. In February 2014, the Center’s name was changed to the Center for Unconventional Weapons Studies to reflect its broad coverage of unconventional weapons issues, both offensive and defensive, across the six joint operating concepts (deterrence operations, cooperative security, major combat operations, irregular warfare, stability