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In its safeguards report on Syria released Monday, the IAEA noted a number of ongoing discrepancies between Syrian statements and evidence gathered from the suspected reactor that Israel destroyed at Al Kibar in 2007 and the Miniature Neutron Source Reactor (MNSR) under IAEA safeguards in Damascus. Syria refuses to discuss Al Kibar (aka Dair Alzour), and requests to view technical documentation of the destroyed building and access to its debris, the munitions that destroyed it, and any salvaged equipment remain unanswered. Traces of anthropogenic (chemically processed) natural uranium found at the site remain unaccounted for. While Syria alleges that the traces originated with the Israeli missiles used in the strike, it refuses to substantiate the claim, and the Agency has all but ruled this explanation out.

U.S. media are largely ignoring the European Union’s efforts to make a bigger splash on the world stage by selecting a new full-time president of the European Council, the group of EU leaders that holds regular summit meetings, and a new High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy – in effect a foreign minister, although the British torpedoed the use of that title.

This CSIS just released the final product of its U.S.-U.K.-France Trilateral Dialogues on Nuclear Issues.  The final statement comes from a group of high-level "Track 2" participants who were assembled to discuss nuclear issues and identify areas of consensus between the three countries.  The CSIS, led by CEO and President John Hamre, Senior Adviser Clark Murdock, and Non-Resident Senior Adviser Franklin Miller and with support from Fellow Jenifer Mackby and Research Assistant Chris Jones, hosted three meetings to develop and sharpen the statement. 

The final statement, entitled "Trilateral Nuclear Dialogues: Toward a Common P3 Approach on Nuclear Non-Proliferation, Energy Use, Disarmament and Material Security," focuses on the shared assumptions and objectives, common policy agenda, and specific initiatives and tactics that the three countries should focus upon over the next few years including at the May 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference.

In addition to outlining a number of specific initiatives the three countries should support, one of the key takeaways from the statement is the importance of priorities. The four main priorities identified are: 1) Strengthening the non-proliferation regime; 2) Pursuing disarmament; 3) Providing for the peaceful use of nuclear energy; and 4) Rapidly secure global nuclear inventories.  And, according to the statement, focusing on these priorities will be critical to success:

FISSILE MATERIAL
ElBaradei urges Iran to agree fuel deal by year end
Reuters by Dave Graham

Outlook for tough Iran sanctions is dim
AP by Robert Burns

IAEA inspectors revisit disputed Iran nuclear site
Reuters by Mark Heinrich

Panel Sees No Need for A-Bomb Upgrade
NYT by William J. Broad

Earlier this week Carnegie hosted an event earlier this week as part of the roll-out for Deepti Choubey's new report Restoring the NPT: Essential Steps for 2010.  At the event, Carnegie’s George Perkovich moderated a discussion between Choubey and Egypt’s Ambassador to the United States, Sameh Shoukry that covered the report and the prospects for success at the 2010 RevCon.

While emphasizing the importance of next year's meeting, Choubey worried that the expectations might be too high.  President Obama's talk of disarmament and a world without nuclear weapons has raised the bar.  However, realistically the U.S. will have little tangible gains in disarmament by next May.

The U.S. and Russia will likely agree to modest reductions in a new START treaty that will hopefully be ratified, but there is almost no chance that the U.S. will have ratified the CTBT by that time.  During the discussion at the event, Choubey said START wouldn't be enough.  She explained:

The militarization of the electromagnetic spectrum is well underway.  In February 2009 the Pentagon released a document entitled “Electronic Warfare in Operations.”  Its seven chapters outline the use of Electronic Warfare by the US Army.  While interest in the use of the electromagnetic spectrum was piqued by the difficulties US forces encountered in dealing with IED

FISSILE MATERIAL
North Korea Arms Trade Funds Nuclear-Bomb Work, UN Panel Says
Bloomberg by Bill Varner

Minister Says Iran Won’t Ship Uranium Abroad
NYT by Michael Slackman

Iran Imperils Western Nuclear Deal
WSJ by Chip Cummins and Jay Solomon

The Conventional Arms Control Challenge
Foreign Policy in Focus by Frida Berrigan

The Group on Earth Observations (GEO) is having their annual plenary meeting in Washington, DC this week.  As the group discusses way to strengthen information sharing and data collection, their meeting serves to highlight the importance of earth observation satellites in the process of climate monitoring.

FISSILE MATERIAL

North Korea's nuclear plans cloud Obama in Seoul
WP by Jon Herskovitz and Patricia Zengerle

Iran rejects sending uranium abroad, considers swaps
Reuters

Secrecy shrouds Iran's contingency centers
Asia Times by Gareth Porter

Why China Isn't Willing to Get Too Tough on Iran
Time by Bill Powell

There’s been an exchange over the past few days between us and NOH about an op-ed published on CTBT ratification (the original article, the initial response, th