Arms control

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Zero Days, Millions in damage: A scientist’s review of the RAND report Zero Days, thousands of nights.

A recent RAND report, released just two days after Wikileaks opened its Vault 7 that detailed the CIA’s entire stockpile of vulnerabilities and their suite of cyber tools (also referred as exploits), seeks to establish a protocol and the advantages of state intelligence agencies maintaining classified vulnerability stockpiles.

Capitol Washington Dispatches 2

Trump’s Nuclear Rhetoric and its implications for European Security: 27 Feb 2017

Trump’s Nuclear Rhetoric and its implications for European Security

Further questions were raised over the direction of US nuclear posture review last week. In an exclusive interview with Reuters, Trump opined that the US has 'fallen behind on nuclear weapon capacity' and pledged the US to be 'top of the pack' when it comes to nuclear weapons.

Shazand Combined cycle power plant

Non-state actors & WMD: Does ISIS have a pathway to a nuclear weapon?

On March 2014, during the Nuclear Security Summit held in the Netherlands, President Obama identified his number one concern as being the prospect of a nuclear weapon going off in Manhattan. UK Home Secretary Theresa May pinpointed her particular fear of the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) acquisition of “chemical, biological or even nuclear weapons” in the “world’s first truly terrorist state”. Fortunately, there has not yet been a nuclear or radiological terrorist attack, but the smuggling of nuclear material remains a pivotal threat to nuclear security.

UK Disagrees With EU Saudi Trade Embargo

Alexander Mosesov from Sputnik News featured a story about the UK’s disagreement with the EU-Saudi trade embargo. The article argues that the reaction by the UK to the decision was predictable. Paul Ingram was quoted in the article saying,

“This response [to oppose the embargo] from the British government is absolutely predictable. There is a strong belief in Whitehall [the British civil service] that the British defense industry depends upon exports to Saudi Arabia, and the strategic support the UK gives to Riyadh benefits UK influence in the region”