The Comparative Strategic Cultures Curriculum project
is an ASCO effort that explored approaches for leveraging strategic culture analyses to understanding WMD behavior. This new report includes a collection of commissioned essays and case studies that examine the field of strategic culture and assess its applicability as a methodological approach to understanding decisions to acquire, proliferate, or use WMD, or abide by or violate international norms regarding WMD. More information about this project, and the essays and case studies, can be found at http://www.dtra.mil/
ASCO/comparative
strategic
cultures.cfm




This monthly publication seeks to provide timely and noteworthy unclassified information on international attitudes towards weapons of mass destruction and efforts to curb their proliferation. Our goal is to assist our readers in planning for today’s issues and those that may be just over the horizon. Your opinions about this product are important to us. Please click
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Jonathan Fox
DTRA Program Manager

Leonard S. Spector Editor-in-Chief
Deputy Director
Monterey Institute
James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies

Jennifer Borchard Managing Editor
National Security Analyst SAIC

Sarah Diehl
Associate Editor

Brenda McVeigh
Layout and Design

Timothy Long
Web Developer

 
 
 

The WMD Insights project is sponsored by the Advanced Systems and Concepts Office (ASCO) at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). ASCO identifies, encourages, and executes high-impact projects to promote new thinking, address technology gaps and improve the operational capabilities of DTRA, DOD and other government agencies in response to weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and related threats. A variety of ASCO studies, conference reports, and papers can be found at http://www.dtra.mil/
ASCO/publications.cfm


 

 

April 2008 Issue . . .
 
Has FARC Entered the Illicit Trade in Radioactive Materials?
  On Saturday, March 1, 2008, the Colombian National Police carried out a combined ground and air assault on the camp of the Marxist guerilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, better known under its Spanish acronym FARC.
. . . view article
   
Ukrainian Parliamentarian Calls for Renuclearization
  On February 26, 2008, Vladislav Kaskiv, a member of Verkhovna Rada (the unicameral Ukrainian parliament), called for Ukraine to reacquire nuclear weapons . . . view article
   
NATO Debates BMD Ahead of April Bucharest Summit
  NATO governments are divided over several important questions as the allies prepare to gather for a summit in Bucharest from April 2-4 . . . view article
   
U.S. Satellite Shoot-Down Evokes International Concern and Criticism
  On Wednesday, February 20, 2008 at 22:26 EST, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates ordered the U.S. military to destroy a non-functioning U.S. surveillance satellite, the USA-193/NROL-21.
. . . view article
   
Chemical Facility Antiterrorism Act of 2008 Advances in U.S. House of Representatives
  On March 14, 2008, the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee approved HR 5577, the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Act of 2008 and reported it to the full House of Representatives for further action . . . view article
   
New French Nuclear Deals in the Middle East Generate Proliferation Concerns
  On January 15, 2008, the Associated Press announced that France and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had signed an agreement that establishes a framework for the construction of two nuclear reactors in the UAE . . . view article
   
Departing Taiwan Government Forced to Dissolve Controversial Arms Brokerage
  In late 2007, the administration of then Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian decided to invest public funds into the creation of a private entity, Taiwan Goal, to help facilitate Taiwan’s arms procurement and development. However, in early 2008, Chen’s government reversed its decision after serious questions were raised about the validity of such a move . . . view article
 
Iran Likely to Take Accusatory Stance at CWC Review Conference
  Apparently applying the motto that the best defense is a good offense, Iran is seeking to deflect international pressure to halt its uranium-enrichment program by pressing complaints about U.S. and Western behavior with respect to chemical weapons . . . view article
 
Summary of Recent United Nations Security Council, European Union, and United States Sanctions Against Iran
  The following synopsis of various sanctions against Iran and the accompanying tables are intended to offer a convenient overview of the status of these international efforts to alter Iranian behavior, as of March 14, 2008 . . . view article
 

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Defense Threat Reduction Agency, the Department of Defense,
or the U.S. Government.