Iran says needs guarantees to ship nuclear fuel
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran could consider sending its low-enriched uranium abroad, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday, signaling a possible softening of its opposition to a plan aimed at easing Western concern over its nuclear ambitions. Click here for relevant heritage research

McChrystal and U.S. ambassador to testify on Afghanistan war
President Obama has finished gathering information about troop options in Afghanistan and will likely announce his decision in an address to the nation next Tuesday, Dec. 1, administration officials said. Click here for relevant heritage research

Charges Detail Road to Terror for 20 in U.S.
Federal officials on Monday unsealed terrorism-related charges against men they say were key actors in a recruitment effort that led roughly 20 young Americans to join a violent insurgent group in Somalia with ties to Al Qaeda. Click here for relevant heritage research

This Week's News Updates: Cybersecurity, Public Diplomacy, Missile Defense

Issue In Depth

START Again: Not So Fast

As the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) reaches its expiration date, the follow-on treaty proposed by the Obama Administration cannot afford to fall short of constitutional duty. Both Administration and Senate obligations, under the Constitution, to provide for the common defense must be fully observed and honored, especially when engaging in negotiations that have imminent implications to US national security and with a country who still considers the U.S. their “principal adversary.” While serving as the quality-control oversight mechanism, the U.S. Senate must be weary of the Administration making dangerous concessions to facilitate the signing of the treaty and making progress towards the goal of a world without nuclear weapons, reducing the U.S.’s ability in protecting and defending the U.S. and its allies against strategic attack. Please see below for our recent research on this topic in this week’s Issue in Depth to the end of the blurb.


Recent Research
The Heritage Foundation: START Follow-On Treaty Could Interfere with Conventional Strike Systems: The Obama Administration is currently rushing to establish a treaty to succeed the expiring Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). Early indications are that this neaw agreement will limit U.S. options to field conventionally armed missiles -- something Congress warned the Administration not to do.

The Heritage Foundation: Dangerous Trajectories: Obama's Approach to Arms Control Misreads Russian Nuclear Strategy: As the Obama Administration negotiates a range of arms control initiatives with Russia, U.S. policymakers need to critically examine Russia's views on nuclear weapons and doctrine. While successive U.S. Administrations have announced that Russia is no longer the enemy, Russia still considers the United States its "principal adversary," despite President Barack Obama's attempts to "reset" bilateral relations. U.S. national leadership and arms control negotiators need to understand Russia's nuclear doctrine and negotiating style as they are, not as the U.S. wants them to be.

The Heritage Foundation: Not a Good Start: The Future of Arms Control: Bilateral Relations: President Obama has made overt efforts to "reset" bilateral relations with Russia--even while Russia continues to call the U.S. its "principal adversary." Moscow publicly applauds U.S. disarmament and arms control efforts while they continue a strong and abiding commitment to nuclear weapons.

The Heritage Foundation: A Flawed Approach to Arms Control: START Negotiations Will Not Serve U.S. Interests: When President Obama announced on September 17 that he had decided to cancel a plan for putting missile defense systems in the Czech Republic and Poland, he ignored repeated warnings from Members of Congress not to permit negotiations with Russia over strategic nuclear weapon reductions to also limit U.S. missile defense options. Now, he is sending Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Moscow to discuss arms control issues with the Russian government.

The Heritage Foundation: A Policy Agenda for the U.S.-Russia Congressional Caucus: Last week, Congress launched the bipartisan Congressional Russia Caucus, which is chaired by Congressmen Tom Price (R-GA) and Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH). The creation of the caucus could not be timelier, as the Obama Administration seems to have made unrequited concessions to Russia in missile defense, strategic arms talks, and the sale of Russian arms to Iran and Venezuela. Meanwhile, the U.S. said little regarding its violation of Ukrainian and Georgian sovereignty.

The Heritage Foundation: Endangering America And Our Allies: Obama's Missile Defense Plans Don't Add Up: Appeasing Russia, Ignoring Our Allies: President Obama's decision to abandon plans for basing elements of the U.S. global missile defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic (the "third site") is entirely political, designed to appease Russia, but it will leave the U.S. more vulnerable to the threat of ballistic missile attack.

The Heritage Foundation: White House Fact Sheet on Missile Defense Raises More Questions Than It Answers: On September 17, President Obama announced that the United States would not honor its commitment to field missile defense interceptors in Poland and radar in the Czech Republic.[1] At the same time, he announced that the U.S. would pursue a new "phased, adaptive approach" for missile defense to provide protection to U.S. territory and America's friends and allies in Europe.

The Heritage Foundation: President Obama Must Not Surrender to Russia on Missile Defense: Reports in the Polish media strongly suggest that the Obama Administration is about to abandon its plans for "third site" missile defense installations in Poland and the Czech Republic. Abandoning the third site would represent a huge turnaround in American strategic thinking on a global missile defense system and a massive betrayal of two key U.S. allies in Eastern and Central Europe. Such a move would also significantly weaken America's ability to combat the growing threat posed by Iran's ballistic missile program and would hand a major propaganda victory to Moscow.

The Heritage Foundation: Starting arms talks all over: President Obama has started planning a new round of nuclear arms negotiations with the Russians. He apparently hopes to rid the world of nuclear weapons. This indeed could be an opportune time to rethink arms control. And who doesn't want a world safe from nuclear Armageddon?

The Heritage Foundation: Son of START: Early in his tenure, President Barack Obama outlined a broad nonproliferation agenda in a Prague speech. Obama told the assembled ears, and the world: "The Cold War has disappeared, but thousands of those [nuclear] weapons have not. In a strange turn of history, the threat of global nuclear war has gone down, but the risk of a nuclear attack has gone up."