While the majority of drones are still used for surveillance activities and their use widespread for reconnaissance and civilian purposes around the world, there has in recent years been the emergence of attack drones by three countries – the United States, Israel and the UK.
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Theatre Nuclear Weapons and the next round of bilateral New START Treaty follow-on talks
BASIC Senior Consultant Ted Seay briefly reviews the military and arms control history of TNWs and highlights Russian concerns around forging a new agreement on remaining U.S. and Russian warheads. He concludes the paper by assessing several options for the United States and NATO.
Iran meets with IAEA representatives again
Representatives from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Iran will meet in Tehran on Wednesday of this week to discuss inspections and verification arrangements. The meeting follows several previous unsuccessful attempts between the two sides to agree on a path forward on how to address the possible military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear program.
Obama nominates Republican Senator for Pentagon Head
On Monday, President Obama announced the nomination of former Senator Chuck Hagel for the position of U.S. Secretary of Defense. Hagel previously served two six-year terms in the Senate, as the Republican representative for Nebraska from 1997-2009.
Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty
An FMCT would require that all member states refrain from producing additional bomb-grade fuel for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices, but would not obligate them to reduce existing stockpiles. There is no agreed-upon text for such a treaty. The Conference on Disarmament (CD) has been the main venue for negotiations.
BASIC NEWS: OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2012
BASIC Update from October to December 2012: BASIC Trident Commission ; WMD Free Zone in the Middle East ; Strategic Dialogue
This Week – Looking to the Year Ahead
This week there is much wrangling within the media about the likely appointment of former Senator Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense. As a politician apparently immune to the usual herd instinct and the pressures of the lobbyists, such lobbyists are attempting to block the possible appointment. Some whisper the principal reason lies in his belief that a military attack on Iran would be a mistake.
U.S. defense decisions amid fiscal constraints
The U.S. Senate passed its long-awaited defense bill on December 4th, authorizing a billion budget for defense spending in FY 2013. During the coming week, the “conference committee” will be tasked with reconciling this bill with the House version. This process is taking place against the backdrop of intense debates over the looming “fiscal cliff”: the across-the-board cuts which threaten to come into effect if a deal on public spending is not agreed by January 1.