A FAILING GRADE IN WMD DEFENSE...
When it comes to defending the American homeland from WMD attack, the Obama administration is falling short on a number of key fronts, a prominent blue ribbon panel has charged. In its latest "report card," issued publicly on January 26th, the bipartisan Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism has warned that U.S. government preparedness still receives failing grades in three major areas: improving the nation's capability to respond quickly to a biological attack, enhancing government oversight, and recruiting and training experts on national security. The assessment is based on the Commission's 2008 report, entitled World at Risk, which identifies seventeen areas in which the federal bureaucracy needs to act to defend against catastrophic terrorism.
...A SLIPPING TIMELINE FOR SPACE, NUCLEAR PRIORITIES...
WMD preparedness is not the only theater where the Obama administration appears to be falling short, however. According to Defense News (January 15), the Defense Department's 2010 Space Posture Review, a report intended to inform U.S. space policy, has been delayed. The Pentagon intended to release the report along with the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) in early February, but sources in the Pentagon indicate that Congress may not receive the report for months. Nor is the Space Posture Review the only study of its kind to be delayed; according to the trade weekly, the Nuclear Posture Review - a key strategic planning document outlining the requirements for the U.S. nuclear triad - is also being held back. For the moment, the Pentagon still plans to release the QDR on February 1st, absent the relevant inputs from either of the studies above, however.
...AND A STATUS QUO APPROACH STRATEGIC FORCES
Nor is the Obama administration revisiting the issue of nuclear modernization. Defense News reports in its February 1st issue that the White House's FY2011 budget will include provisions for the maintenance of U.S. nuclear stockpiles, but not their upgrade. The administration intends the Stockpile Management program to serve as a replacement for the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) program, which was derailed in Congress in 2008. Defense News cites Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Ellen Tauscher, who spearheaded efforts to stop the RRW as a congresswoman, as saying that the Stockpile Management program will "refurbish" rather than "modernize" U.S. warheads.
RUSSIA PLANS RESPONSE TO POLISH PATRIOTS
Russia intends to strengthen its Baltic fleet in response to the planned deployment of U.S. Patriot anti-missile batteries in Poland. Reuters (January 21) reports that an anonymous source in the Russian Navy has told the RIA Novosti news agency that "the surface, underwater and aviation elements of the Baltic Fleet will be strengthened." The move comes as the U.S. and Poland plan the installation of Patriot missiles in Morag, a Polish city close to Russia's Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad. Polish officials, however, are taking the news in stride: "Let's stay calm. Such strengthening, even if it becomes true, is no direct threat to Poland," one anonymous Polish Foreign Ministry source has counseled.
HAMAS, REARMED
Since the end of its three-week-long war with Israel last year, the Hamas movement has reconstituted its strategic arsenal with the help of the Iranian regime and its chief terrorist proxy, Hezbollah. An Israeli intelligence source tells the World Tribune (January 18) that Hamas, which has de facto political control over the Gaza Strip, has managed to stockpile over 5,000 short-range rockets, and is working to enhance the accuracy of those weapons. The group, the source says, is seeking to develop the capability to counter a potential Israeli ground offensive while attacking targets in Israel. The city of Tel Aviv and Israel's Dimona nuclear facility are both within range of Hamas's Iranian-made rockets, and the Israeli source warns that the buildup of arms is "likely" to lead the two sides to another war in 2010.
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