August 4, 2010                            
Dossier: Chas Freeman

Former U.S. official put on the defensive in debate on Israel's strategic value


BACKGROUNDER
Compiled by Bill Gertz

Russians not required to provide full telemetry data under new START

A major weakness of the as yet unratified New START strategic arms treaty was identified during a Senate hearing last week. Under the 1991 START agreement that expired in December, Russia was required to provide U.S. arms verifiers with data tapes on missile test telemetry, the data sent back to ground stations during flight tests that provide key details of the test.

Under the new treaty, Russia will only be required to provide telemetry tapes on five flight tests, a significant cutback.

The loophole was raised during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on July 20 by Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., who said he is concerned about the problem because it weakens the verification of the treaty.



Support from Cairo, Riyadh seen as critical after initial strike on Iran

TEL AVIV — An Israeli air campaign on Iran's nuclear facilities could garner Arab and U.S. support, a report said. The Institute for National Security Studies asserted that an Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, despite U.S. opposition, could galvanize the international community, particularly the Arab world, against the Teheran regime. "Attacking Iranian nuclear installations would demonstrate to the international community and the United States that Israel is credible and determined in its claim that it cannot accept a nuclear Iran," the report, titled "A Military Attack on Iran? Considerations for Israeli Decision Making," said.    
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Lieberman: The restrictions [in the New START strategic arms treaty] “make it harder for our intelligence community to gauge exactly what the Russians are developing.”

A strange, spiral light in the sky above Skjervoy, Norway, was photographed on Dec. 9, 2009, near the time of the failure of a Russian Bulava ICBM missile test.
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