SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2018, Issue No. 25
April 10, 2018

Secrecy News Blog: https://fas.org/blogs/secrecy/

AN AIRBORNE DEFENSE AGAINST NORTH KOREAN ICBMS?

Could an airborne network of drone-based interceptors effectively defend against the launch of North Korean ballistic missiles? A recent assessment by physicists Richard L. Garwin and Theodore A. Postol concludes that it could.

"All of the technologies needed to implement the proposed system are proven and no new technologies are needed to realize the system," they wrote.

Their concept envisions the deployment of a number of Predator B drones loitering outside of North Korean airspace each bearing two boost-phase intercept missiles.

"The baseline system could technically be deployed in 2020, and would be designed to handle up to 5 simultaneous ICBM launches."

"The potential value of this system could be to quickly create an incentive for North Korea to take diplomatic negotiations seriously and to destroy North Korean ICBMs if they are launched at the continental United States."

See Airborne Patrol to Destroy DPRK ICBMs in Powered Flight by R.L. Garwin and T.A. Postol, November 26, 2017.

The asserted role of such a system in promoting diplomatic negotiations rests on certain assumptions about how it would be perceived and evaluated by North Korea that are not addressed by the authors here.

PROMPT GLOBAL STRIKE WEAPONS, & MORE FROM CRS

The U.S. military is accelerating the development of prompt global strike weapons that are intended to allow the U.S. to hit targets anywhere on Earth on short notice using conventional weapons.

The Department of Defense has requested increased funding in FY 2019 for prompt global strike weapons -- $278 million, up from $201 million in FY 2018 -- with further increases anticipated for the next five years.

"This shows the growing priority placed on the program in the Pentagon and the growing interest in Congress in moving the program forward toward deployment," according to a newly updated report on such weapons from the Congressional Research Service.

See Conventional Prompt Global Strike and Long-Range Ballistic Missiles: Background and Issues by Amy F. Woolf, April 6, 2018.

Other new and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service include the following.

Options to Cease Implementing the Iran Nuclear Agreement, updated April 5, 2018:

Cameroon's Anglophone Crisis: Recent Developments and Issues for Congress, CRS Insight, April 6, 2018:

When the City Goes Broke: Pensions, Retirees, and Municipal Bankruptcies, CRS Legal Sidebar, April 10, 2018:

Sexual Harassment and Title VII: Selected Legal Issues, April 9, 2018:

Commerce Department Announces Citizenship Question on 2020 Census and Lawsuits Filed, CRS Legal Sidebar, April 6, 2018:

Lame Duck Sessions of Congress, 1935-2016 (74th-114th Congresses), April 6, 2018:

Statutory Interpretation: Theories, Tools, and Trends, April 5, 2018:

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Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the Federation of American Scientists.

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