FAS Roundup: November 14, 2011
Dispute over nuclear weapons program costs, IAEA Iran report analysis, new documentary on anthrax, terrorist threat to Pakistan's nuclear arsenal and more.
From the Blogs
New Air Force policy directive on "Directive Energy Weapons" and letter from Representative Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) to President Obama asking to expedite the declassification of U.S. intelligence documents pertaining to Argentina’s so-called “dirty war” during the military dictatorship that lasted from 1976 to the mid-1980s.
Dispute over Cost of Nuclear Weapons Program: Steven Aftergood investigates the radically different estimates of cost of the U.S. nuclear program presented by members of Congress in the past few weeks. The disparate estimates, which vary by hundreds of billions of dollars, reflect a lack of consensus about how to properly assess the cost of nuclear weapons.
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From the Blogs Nuclear Transparency and the Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan: Hans Kristensen, director of the FAS Nuclear Information Project, addresses the Obama administration’s nuclear policy, mainly…
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From the Blogs
Energy Dept to Review Classification Standards for Clarity: The Department of Energy will review its classification standards to improve clarity and eliminate ambiguities, the Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration told FAS in a letter of response to the case of James Doyle. Doyle is a political scientist who worked at Los Alamos and published an article on nuclear weapons policy that was initially cleared for publication, but then was said to contain classified information. Doyle's employment at Los Alamos was later terminated.
Private Lawsuit Jeopardizes State Secrets, US Says: Greek businessman Victor Restis filed a lawsuit last year against the private advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), alleging that the group had falsely and maliciously accused Restis of engaging in illicit commerce with Iran. Last week, an unidentified agency within the U.S. government asserted the state secrets privilege in the case, for reasons that were not disclosed, and asked the court to dismiss the entire proceeding. On September 17, the plaintiff's attorney told the Court that the government acted improperly and misused the state secrets privilege.
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Dr. ADAM MOUNT, Senior Fellow & Director of the FAS Defense Posture Project, spoke with MSNBC to discuss U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton’s “dangerous”…
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FAS is pleased to introduce the Defense Posture Project (directed by Senior Fellow Dr. Adam Mount) and welcome aboard: Ankit Panda (Adjunct Senior Fellow)…
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Congress will allow Energy Department to reclassify nuke info, new biosecurity podcast and much more.
From the Blogs
Congress Will Allow Energy Department to Reclassify Nuke Info: Steven Aftergood writes that Congress is poised to amend the Atomic Energy Act to allow certain nuclear weapons-related information that is classified as Formerly Restricted Data (FRD) to be restored to the Restricted Data (RD) category. FRD and RD are both classified under the Atomic Energy Act, but FRD generally pertains to the utilization of nuclear weapons, whereas RD mostly deals with nuclear weapons design information.
Declassification of the Historical Backlog: The total number of pages of government records that were reviewed for declassification last year, as well as the number that were actually declassified, declined slightly from the year before, according to the 2011 annual report from the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) that was published on May 29, 2012.
Hot Tuna: In 2011, after the meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, there was significant concern regarding the spread of radioactive material. A paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences is the first to suggest that Pacific bluefin tuna transported Fukushima-derived radionuclides across the entire North Pacific Ocean.
Move to Declassify FISA Court Rulings Yields No Results: An initiative that was started two years ago to declassify significant rulings of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court regarding domestic intelligence surveillance has produced no declassified records, a Justice Department official confirmed last week. In response to complaints about the rise of “secret law,” the Justice Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence established a new process in 2010 to declassify opinions of the FISA Courts (including the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court as well as the FIS Court of Review) that contained “important rulings of law.”
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Op-ed: Synthetic biology and the new culture of responsibility FAS President Dr. Ali Nouri and Shahram Seyedin-Noor co-authored an op-ed for synthetic biology…
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On Thursday, May 20, 2010, FAS will hold a conference call with members on the technical aspects of Iran’s enrichment program, and the recently issued FAS report-- The Twenty Percent Solution: Breaking the Iranian Stalemate.
Dr. Ivan Oelrich, Vice President of the Strategic Security Program, and FAS Researcher Ivanka Barzashka will speak about their proposal to break the Iranian stalemate by reaching a deal to refuel the Tehran research reactor. They will also discuss their assessment of Iran's enrichment capability, the fuel enrichment plant in Fordow, and Iran's plan to build ten more enrichment facilities.
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FAS’ always-updated Nuclear Posture Review Resource provides clarity and context for President Trump’s Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), including analysis from FAS and other experts, breakdowns of past NPRs…
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In Case You Missed It FAS President featured in The Atlantic‘s cover story Dr. Charles D. Ferguson, president of FAS, was featured in journalist Steve Brill’s yearlong investigation of…
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