Manufacturing Nuclear Weapon Pits, and More from CRS
A critical assessment of the feasibility of reaching the Department of Defense’s goal of producing 80 plutonium pits (or triggers) for nuclear weapons was prepared by the Congressional Research Service. It provides new analysis of the space and material requirements needed to achieve the declared goal. See Manufacturing Nuclear Weapon “Pits”: A Decisionmaking Approach for Congress, August 15, 2014.
Other new or updated CRS reports obtained by Secrecy News include the following.
The U.S. Military Presence in Okinawa and the Futenma Base Controversy, August 14, 2014
India’s New Government and Implications for U.S. Interests, August 7, 2014
Guatemala: Political, Security, and Socio-Economic Conditions and U.S. Relations, updated August 7, 2014
Small Refineries and Oil Field Processors: Opportunities and Challenges, August 11, 2014
Telemarketing Regulation: National and State Do Not Call Registries, August 14, 2014
Immigration Policies and Issues on Health-Related Grounds for Exclusion, updated August 13, 2014
Satellite imagery of RAF Lakenheath reveals new construction of a security perimeter around ten protective aircraft shelters in the designated nuclear area, the latest measure in a series of upgrades as the base prepares for the ability to store U.S. nuclear weapons.
It will take consistent leadership and action to navigate the complex dangers in the region and to avoid what many analysts considered to be an increasingly possible outcome, a nuclear conflict in East Asia.
How the United States responds to China’s nuclear buildup will shape the global nuclear balance for the rest of the century.
The bootcamp brought more than two dozen next-generation open-source practitioners from across the United States to Washington DC, where they participated in interactive modules, group discussions, and hands-on sleuthing.