Leonard S. Spector

New players in the nuclear game

The Reagan administration winked at the spread of atomic weapons to powers in troubled areas, and it encouraged civilian use of plutonium. Nonproliferation was not a high priority.

Not-so-open skies

Abstract The rules of non-discriminatory access and ‘open skies’ embraced by the Landsat Earth observation programme are being undermined by SPOT Image of France and the USSRs Soyuzkarta, for commercial and security reasons respectively. The privatization of Landsat, and the chronic underfunding of its operator Eosat, have also undercut the US position. Moreover, disparities in access exist as a result of technical and other limitations. Nevertheless the principles of international cooperation and equitable sharing of the benefits of satellite technology are worth defending. The author outlines several steps which should be taken to defend equal access and open skies.

Follow the proliferation money

Countering proliferation financing has become an important tool in combating the movement of prohibited nuclear technology and the development of suspect nuclear programs in rogue states. Governments are increasingly calling on financial institutions, manufacturers, and shipping companies to act as the first line of defense by conducting enhanced due diligence on transactions that involve dual-use items or countries or individuals under sanction. This article outlines some of the ways that companies can do so. The financial community takes enhanced due diligence seriously, not least because regulators have in the past imposed fines in the billions of dollars on banks in violation of the rules. While detection of potentially illicit transactions has improved in recent years, the authors argue that there remains room for improvement. The manufacturing sector, for instance, should adopt stricter measures in the effort to combat proliferation financing.

Keep the skies open

The principles of equal access and open skies are being undermined by one satellite company for commercial reasons and by another for security reasons. And the operating principles of all three favor some customers over others.

Cooling the arms race in South Asia

It is still possible to maintain the nuclear status quo between India and Pakistan, and to address the underlying security concerns that have made nuclear arms attractive to both.Time is fast running out for averting a nuclear arms race in South Asia. India and Pakistan are now confronting decisions on the acquisition of nuclear weapons that will fundamentally affect their bilateral security relations and will have important regional and global consequences as well.To inform the debate on these issues, in mid-1986 the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace established a task force on nonproliferation and South Asian security, composed of American specialists in the fields of nuclear nonproliferation, South Asian studies, and arms control. The task forces final report, released in January, offers a blueprint for a nuclear stand-down in the region. Its conclusions are summarized below.

Nuclear proliferation: who's next?

Unsettling developments in the past 18 months could lead to nuclear competition and terrorism in the worlds least-stable regions. US efforts to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons seem ineffective in view of such unsettling developments, especially among the states whose programs are most advanced. The task is more difficult than it was a decade ago. Then the policy of export restraint on the part of nuclear supplier countries formed the basis for a unified strategy that helped retard proliferation across the board. Today each country on the nuclear threshold must be addressed individually, taking into account its unique regional concerns and its particular relations with the US. If there is a unifying thread to US efforts to stop proliferation, it is that these have become increasingly political and diplomatic. In such a setting it is all the more important to make nonproliferation a top priority on the US foreign policy agenda. Unfortunately, other concerns have eclipsed nonproliferation in the recent past. The effect of that neglect is increasingly evident. 9 references, 1 figure, 1 table.

Good news, bad news on proliferation

While Argentina and Brazil now seem less likely to acquire nuclear weapons, Indian and Pakistani intentions remain uncertain. The Israeli nuclear program and recent allegations of black-marketeering are even more disturbing.