The New START trap for the GOP

Senate Republicans seem sorely tempted not to pass the New START agreement during the lame-duck session. Some simply won’t vote for the treaty. Some think the newly elected members should have a say and that there’s no need to rush. Others, such as Jon Kyl, are negotiating with the administration over issues such as modernization of the U.S. nuclear arsenal and are trying to get the best possible deal. Still others just want to deny the president a victory.

I have sympathy for most of these arguments (not the last), but I fear Republicans are missing the bigger strategic picture. New START, whatever its flaws, is not a threat to U.S. security. The three previous arms-control treaties, all negotiated by Republican presidents, cut deployed nuclear weapons from near 12,000 to around 2,000. New START reduces the totals to 1,550. Passing it will neither produce a nuclear-free utopia nor disarm the United States.

Why Senate Republicans should pass the New START treaty

Senate Republicans seem sorely tempted not to pass the New START agreement during the lame-duck session. Some simply won’t vote for the treaty. Some think the newly elected members should have a say and that there’s no need to rush. Others, such as Jon Kyl, are negotiating with the administration over issues such as modernization of the U.S. nuclear arsenal and are trying to get the best possible deal. Still others just want to deny the president a victory.

I have sympathy for most of these arguments (not the last), but I fear Republicans are missing the bigger strategic picture. New START, whatever its flaws, is not a threat to U.S. security. The three previous arms-control treaties, all negotiated by Republican presidents, cut deployed nuclear weapons from near 12,000 to around 2,000. New START reduces the totals to 1,550. Passing it will neither produce a nuclear-free utopia nor disarm the United States.

It’s time to get serious about North Korean nuclear proliferation (Rep. Pete Hoekstra)

U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.), the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, issued the following statement after excerpts of an upcoming United Nations report on North Korean nuclear proliferation activities appeared in the press:

The United Nations will apparently confirm what many in the international community already know — that North Korea is led by a rogue regime that is actively trafficking in nuclear material with other rogue nations. North Korea, Iran, Syria and Burma are four countries where it is in no nation’s interest to see nuclear weapon and ballistic missile proliferation activities. Yet we are confronted repeatedly by public and international reports of their efforts to purchase and proliferate weapons of mass destruction.

Lockheed Martin Receives $97 Million Contract for Aegis Production

The U.S. Navy awarded Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) a $97M contract for the production of the Aegis Weapon System for the DDG-113 destroyer, plus advanced procurement funding for two additional systems for DDGs 114 and 115.

“We are in a dynamic security and acquisition environment that focuses on affordability and capability like never before,” said U.S. Navy Captain Jon Hill, the Major Program Manager, Integrated Combat Systems at Program Executive Office, Integrated Warfare Systems. “The Aegis system has transformed to meet changing customer missions and needs at a cost-effective price for more than 40 years.”

The contract includes four Aegis multi-mission signal processors — three for the destroyers and an additional unit for the Navy’s Surface Combat System Center on Wallops Island, Va. The contract also contains an option for an Aegis Ashore system, which will adapt the sea-based Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense technology to a land-based system to protect U.S. and allied troops in Europe against short- and medium-range ballistic missile threats.

“This contract continues the Aegis production line and shows the confidence the customers have in our ability to improve affordability while adding new capabilities that continually transform Aegis to meet changing customer needs and missions,” said Carmen Valentino, Lockheed Martin vice president of Future Surface Combatant programs. “Lockheed Martin has worked side-by-side with the Navy to evolve the Aegis system from its initial anti-air warfare role to integrated air and ballistic missile defense with expanded application to future Aegis Ashore sites.”

Northrop Grumman Enters Competition for Missile Defense Agency’s Next-Generation Aegis Missile

Northrop Grumman Corporation /quotes/comstock/13*!noc/quotes/nls/noc (NOC 62.87, -1.20, -1.87%) is highlighting its deep experience on early intercept of ballistic missile threats to compete for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) next-generation ballistic missile interceptor currently planned for fielding in 2020.

The company announced that it has submitted a proposal for the Next Generation Aegis Missile’s (NGAM) concept definition and program planning phase set to get underway in 2011. The new interceptor will be designed to provide early intercept capability against some short range ballistic missiles, all medium range ballistic missiles, all intermediate range ballistic missiles and non-advanced intercontinental ballistic missiles.

“This opportunity extends Northrop Grumman’s long partnership with MDA to enhance the Ballistic Missile Defense System with an earlier intercept capability that helps achieve a layered missile defense,” said Duke Dufresne, sector vice president and general manager, Strike and Surveillance Systems Division for Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems.

Iran readies missile defense system?

Tehran plans to test a domestic version of the Russian-made S-300 missile defense system, an Iranian military official declared.

Russia pulled back on a deal to sell the S-300 system to Iran, citing recent U.N. sanctions on Tehran regarding its nuclear program. However, following a visit by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in October, Moscow opted to sell Venezuela its S-300 anti-aircraft missile system.

Tehran wanted the system to protect its nuclear installations from a possible aerial attack by the Israelis, who bombed an Iraqi nuclear facility in the 1980s. Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said there were no plans to find an alternative supplier now that the Russian deal had fallen through.

Obama extends freeze on Iranian assets

US President Barack Obama extended for another year a freeze on Iranian assets in the United States first imposed 31 years ago by president Jimmy Carter.

In a notice published by the White House Wednesday, Obama noted that ties between the two countries had yet to be normalized, giving grounds for a continuation of a “national emergency” with respect to Iran.

Carter had ordered a freeze on Iranian government assets under US jurisdiction on November 14, 1979, 10 days after militants and students sympathetic with the Islamic revolution overan the US embassy in Tehran.

Iranian militants held 52 US diplomats hostage for 444 days, and Washington and Tehran broke ties in April 1980.

Chinese Missiles Could Close U.S. Bases in Attack, Report Says

The Chinese military’s non-nuclear missiles have “the capability to attack” and close down five of six major U.S. Air Force bases in South Korea and Japan, an unpublished government report says.

China’s improved inventory of short- and medium-range missiles provides a “dramatic increase” in its ability to “inhibit” U.S. military operations in the western Pacific, according to excerpts from the draft of the 2010 annual report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission scheduled for release on Nov. 17.

China’s current force “may be sufficient” to destroy runways, parked aircraft, fuel and maintenance facilities at Osan and Kunsan air bases in South Korea, and Kadena, Misawa and Yokota bases in Japan, the report says. The facilities are within 1,100 kilometers (684 miles) of China.

An upgraded missile arsenal, including a 30 percent increase in cruise missiles since last year, “poses a significant challenge to U.S. forces operating in the region,” the report says. Defense Secretary Robert Gates in June called China’s improved missile arsenal “a real concern” that also threatens U.S. aircraft carriers.

U.N. report alleges North Korea exported nuclear technology

A U.N. expert panel alleges that North Korea exported banned nuclear and ballistic missile technology to several rogue nations.

The 75-page report, complied by a seven-member panel reporting to the United Nations Security Council, states that North Korea is involved in “nuclear and ballistic missile-related activities in certain countries, including Iran, Syria and Myanmar” and that special attention should be given by all member countries to inhibit such activities.

The report, which was released this week, had been delayed from publication for six months by China, a friendly nation to North Korea, according to a diplomat familiar with the case. The diplomat spoke in a background briefing and did not want to be identified

North Korea: A Rare Look at the Secret Society

For nearly 60 years communist North Korea has shut itself off from the world.

Seen from space, it’s literally a black hole between the lights of China to the north and the Republic of Korea to the south.

Party Invitation

“When they decide they want western media to come in, it all happens in a matter of hours,” said CBS News national correspondent Jim Axelrod.

North Korea gave a CBS News team a four-day window to attend Communist Party ceremonies in the capital Pyongyang. North Korean dictator Kim Jung Il would introduce his youngest son and heir — Kim Jung Un — to the world.

“On our flight from Beijing to Pyongyang, an attractive 22-year-old North Korea flight attendant asked me where I was from,” CBS News cameraman Randy Schmidt said. “When I said I was an American who lived in Japan, she immediately snapped back, ‘I hate America. I hate Japan.”" Then, Schmidt said, “She asked me what kind of beverage I wanted to drink.”