http://www.investigativeproject.org/
THE AMERICAS
GENERAL SECURITY, POLICY
1. Report: Iran may be month from a bomb
Iran could produce enough weapons-grade uranium to build a nuclear bomb in as little as a month, according to a new estimate by one of the USA’s top nuclear experts.
Oren Dorell, USA TODAY 8:20 a.m. EDT October 25, 2013
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/10/24/iran-bomb-one-month-away/3181373/
IPT NOTE: The cited report is posted at http://isis-online.org/uploads/isis-reports/documents/Breakout_Study_24October2013.pdf, and summary at http://www.isis-online.org/uploads/isis-reports/documents/Breakout_Study_Summary_24October2013.pdf
Iran could produce enough weapons-grade uranium to build a nuclear bomb in as little as a month, according to a new estimate by one of the USA’s top nuclear experts. The new assessment comes as the White House invited Senate staffers to a briefing on negotiations with Iran as it is trying to persuade Congress not to go ahead with a bill to stiffen sanctions against Iran. “Shortening breakout times have implications for any negotiation with Iran,” stated the report by the Institute for Science and International Security. “An essential finding is that they are currently too short and shortening further.” David Albright, president of the institute and a former inspector for the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency, said the estimate means that Iran would have to eliminate more than half of its 19,000 centrifuges to extend the time it would take to build a bomb to six months…
Rift widens on Iranian nuclear deal as Israel, Arabs warn against allowing enrichment
By Joby Warrick, Washington Post Published: October 23 | Updated: Thursday, October 24, 8:53 AM
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/11123
Correction: Earlier versions of this article, including the Thursday print edition of The Washington Post, misstated one of the conclusions of an independent analysis released Wednesday. The study calculated that Iran is now capable of producing enough weapon-grade uranium to fuel an atomic bomb in less than six weeks, using the equipment and know-how it already has. The Obama administration on Wednesday acknowledged a widening gulf with key Middle Eastern allies over nuclear talks with Iran, as Israeli and Persian Gulf Arab leaders pressed for drastic cuts to Iran’s atomic infrastructure that Tehran has insisted it will never accept. The differences came into stark relief as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to lecture Secretary of State John F. Kerry at a joint news conference, warning against a “bad deal” that would allow Iran to retain any capability to make enriched uranium. Iran, which last week began a new round of nuclear talks with the United States and five other world powers, says it will never agree to give up its right to make uranium fuel for peaceful nuclear energy…
2. Nuclear officers napped with blast door left open
By Robert Burns-Associated Press Wednesday, October 23, 2013
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/23/nuclear-officers-napped-blast-door-left-open/
WASHINGTON (AP) — Air Force officers entrusted with the launch keys to long-range nuclear missiles have been caught twice this year leaving open a blast door that is intended to help prevent a terrorist or other intruder from entering their underground command post, Air Force officials said. The blast doors are never to be left open if one of the crew members inside is asleep — as was the case in both these instances — out of concern for the trouble an intruder could cause, including the compromising of secret launch codes. Transgressions such as this are rarely revealed publicly. But officials with direct knowledge of Air Force intercontinental ballistic missile operations told The Associated Press that such violations have occurred, undetected, more times than in the cases of the two launch crew commanders and two deputy commanders who were given administrative punishments this year. The blast door violations are another sign of trouble in the handling of the nation’s nuclear arsenal… READ IT ALL
