U.S.-Iran Stand-Off Hints of Old “Tanker War”
CIPHER BRIEF REPORTING – Less than a month ago, with global attention fixed on the Ukrainian offensive, U.S. Admiral James Stavridis (ret.) sought to open […] More
Posts Tagged ‘nuclear weapons’
As America’s Nuclear Arsenal Upgrades, Usual Testing is Scrapped
OPINION — “U.S. [nuclear] warheads were designed and manufactured until the late 1980s and early 1990s. Since then, we have not designed any new nuclear […] More
America Beefs Up Potential Response as Threat of Russian Nukes Loom
OPINION — Back in late February, four Boeing B-52H strategic bombers from the 23rd Expeditionary Bomb Squadron (23rd EBS), based at Minot Air Force Base, […] More
As the War in Ukraine Intensifies, America’s Nuclear Policy Needs a Fresh Look
OPINION — “I believe improving our ability to deter and counter adversary limited nuclear use in a regional conflict is the single most important challenge […] More
North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons Are a Threat to All Nations
OPINION — The Joint Statement of the Xi Jinping – Vladimir Putin summit expressed concern about the situation on the Korean Peninsula. That was an understatement. North […] More
Nuclear Weapons, Deterrence and What’s Next
Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist Walter Pincus is a contributing senior national security columnist at The Cipher Brief. Pincus spent forty years at The Washington Post, writing on […] More
Where Biden Stands on Nuclear Weapons
Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist Walter Pincus is a contributing senior national security columnist for The Cipher Brief. He spent forty years at The Washington Post, writing […] More
The Fate of Nuclear Treaties
Bottom Line Up Front The U.S. has announced it will pull out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, signed in 1987. Washington’s departure […] More
North Korea’s Denuclearization: Is Cuba a Better Model than Libya?
A revised and improved “Cuba model” for denuclearizing North Korea might have gotten a more receptive ear from Pyongyang than US National Security Adviser John […] More
North Korea Talks: Falling for the Same Tricks, or Uncharted Waters?
After North Korea threatened to withdraw from the upcoming face-to-face summit between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, some media outlets reported that Trump […] More
Best Of: Fault on Both Sides: 25 Years of North Korea Negotiations
North Korea has threatened to pull out of planned talks between leaders Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump, citing opposition to U.S. demands for […] More
Threat Report 2018: North Korea’s Nuclear Doctrine
Months of fruitful engagement between North Korea, South Korea and the United States may soon turn sour. Yesterday, Pyongyang warned that ongoing joint military exercises […] More
President Trump Announces Withdrawal from the Iran Nuclear Deal
President Donald Trump announced Tuesday afternoon that the United States would withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, or JCPOA, and re-impose harsh sanctions on Iran—including […] More
North Korea: From Wishful Thinking to ‘Possible’
The Panmunjom Declaration gives us hope that denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is possible. The Summit of South Korean President Moon Jae-in with North Korea’s […] More
Can Trump Legally Withdraw from the Iran Deal?
President Donald Trump has repeatedly voiced his belief that the Iran nuclear deal is flawed and if it is not amended to cure those flaws, […] More
Iran’s “Admit Nothing, Deny Everything, Make Counter-Accusations” Tour
At the time of this writing, Iran’s avuncular Foreign Minister Javad Zarif is about to conclude a six-day visit to New York during which he […] More
Standing Firm on Denuclearization with Kim Jong Un
Getting North Korea to agree to the complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of its nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons facilities will be a difficult task […] More
Nuke Mission Accomplished, Kim Jong Un Shifts to Economy
On Saturday, North Korea announced it was suspending nuclear weapons and ballistic missile testing, ahead of this week’s summit with South Korea and ahead of […] More
Debating Risk and Blowback on North Korea
Cipher Brief experts debated the risk versus blowback of striking North Korea before it has a chance to strike the continental United States, at The […] More
Trump and Kim Jong Un: Let’s Make a Deal
President Donald Trump has agreed to meet with Kim Jong Un and the other players, China and North Korea, are preparing. The question is: How […] More
How Trump Can Separate North Korea From Its Nukes
During two years of intense negotiations with North Korea, from August 2003 to September 2005, North Korea’s constant refrain to U.S. negotiators was, ‘Accept us […] More
Kim Says He’s Open to Denuclearization—But In Exchange for What?
North Korea’s weekend offer of peace talks over dinner with the first South Korean delegation there in more than a decade seems to be a […] More
Don’t Talk to Kim if Nukes Are Off the Table
North Korea’s Olympic delegation has left Pyeongchang, and stuck South Korean President Moon Jae-in with a decision: whether to accept an invitation to Pyongyang for […] More
Mattis: New U.S. Nuclear Capabilities Needed to Deter Moscow
Pentagon chief Jim Mattis defended the administration’s 2018 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) as the right response to Russia’s rising nuclear capacity and its failure to […] More