Global Nuclear Energy Partnership February 1, 2006
The President did not mention the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership in the State of the Union Address. He did give a half sentence to nuclear power, along with windmills, but…
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India’s Nuclear Arsenal Takes A Big Step Forward
On 18 December 2021, India tested its new Agni-P medium-range ballistic missile from its Integrated Test Range on Abdul Kalam Island. This was the second test of the missile, the first test having been conducted in June 2021. Our friends at Planet Labs PBC managed to capture an image of…
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NNSA Removes F/A-18F Super Hornet From Nuclear Bomb Fact Sheet
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has quietly removed the F/A-18F Super Hornet from its B61-12 nuclear bomb fact sheet. No public explanation has been offered for why the aircraft was…
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A Closer Look at China’s Missile Silo Construction
[Update: Some images have temporarily been taker down because Maxar does not allow their satellite images to be overlaid on a competitor's image.] After the discovery during the summer of…
Read moreUS Army: Collecting Information on U.S. Persons January 31, 2006
Military regulations offer wide latitude in the gathering of domestic intelligence information. “Contrary to popular belief, there is no absolute ban on [military] intelligence components collecting U.S. person information,”…
Read moreThe Status of the DCI Following Intel Reform January 31, 2006
The intelligence reform legislation of 2004 abolished the position of Director of Central Intelligence, transferring many of its functions to the new Director of National Intelligence. This raised a technical…
Read moreNRO Operational Files Exemption in Dispute January 31, 2006
In the past, the National Reconnaissance Office, the agency that develops spy satellites, has released unclassified portions of its budget request documents. But last year, the NRO refused to…
Read moreInadvertent Disclosures of Classified Nuclear Info January 31, 2006
The Department of Energy has released a sanitized version of its nineteenth report to Congress on inadvertent releases of classified nuclear weapons information through the declassification process. Out of…
Read moreNotable Rules and Regs January 31, 2006
Some notable rules and regulations on security policy that have recently been published include the following: “National Industrial Security Program Directive Number 1,” Information Security Oversight Office, January 27,…
Read moreWill the President address science policy, education and biosecurity in his State of The Union? January 30, 2006
FAS hopes the President will take the opportunity to send the right message to the American public and ditch political rhetoric in his State of the Union. FAS is deeply concerned that the nation is headed in the wrong direction on critical science issues that affect our health, national security, environment and economic future. The President has an opportunity to change that starting with his State of the Union address on January 31st. Specifically, we would like the President to take scientific research funding, science education funding, and biosecurity more seriously then he has in the past.
Read morePlutonium getting a mention in State of the Union Address? January 30, 2006
A couple of articles in the energy trade press [link] have said that President Bush may announce a major new energy initiative in the State of the Union Address. This is a program that has been in planning for over a year. Originally it was called the Global Nuclear Energy Initiative, or GNEI, pronounced "genie," but apparently the Administration decided that acronym was a bit too cute, with too many "getting out of the bottle" snipes. More recent articles in the Washington Post [link] and Wall Street Journal report that the program has been renamed the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) and is not quite ready for prime time so will probably not appear in the Address but will be unveiled in a couple of months. [link] If it does get a mention, I will return to this on Wednesday. By all accounts, the centerpiece of GNEP will be plutonium reprocessing and recycling. This is one of those ideas that is great in theory but doesn't work in practice. The plan is to reduce nuclear waste by repeatedly recycling it through a new (in the US at least) type of power reactor, a fast neutron reactor. [more]
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