OUR PICKSTaking Russian Nuclear Threats Seriously | 'Most Dangerous Individual in Metro Detroit' | Oil for Atoms, and more
· Oil for Atoms: The 1970s Energy Crisis and Nuclear Proliferation in the Persian Gulf
· Unpacking the Pentagon’s $3.1 Billion Climate Request
· Feds Fight to Jail ‘Most Dangerous Individual in Metro Detroit’
· Extremism, Hateful Rhetoric Becoming ‘Normalized’ in Canada, Spy Agency Head Warns
· Getting the Global Fragility Act Together: Reimagining Counterterrorism Must Be Part of the Plan
· U.S. Intelligence Is Helping Ukraine Kill Russian Generals, Officials Say
· Why Washington Should Take Russian Nuclear Threats Seriously
· Guns Now Kill More Children and Young Adults Than Car Crashes
· Facebook Provided Warning to FBI Before January 6, GAO Report Reveals
· Dependency Issues: Solving the World’s Open-Source Software Security Problem
Oil for Atoms: The 1970s Energy Crisis and Nuclear Proliferation in the Persian Gulf (Marino Auffant, Texas National Security Review)
The 1970s energy crisis, which rocked global markets and caused oil prices to skyrocket, had a number of far-reaching and unexpected consequences, many of which have become the focus of academic study in recent years. However, one topic that has eluded scholarly attention is the connection between the energy crisis and nuclear proliferation in the Gulf region. The French government responded to the energy crisis by looking for bilateral trade opportunities with OPEC countries in order to avert a recession. After the shah of Iran offered to sell oil to France in exchange for nuclear reactors, the French government realized that it could trade oil for nuclear technologies with other countries in the Persian Gulf — arousing the interest of Saudi Arabia and Iraq. This generated strong opposition from the U.S. government, which was worried about nuclear proliferation in the region. But while the United States succeeded in preventing Saudi Arabia from acquiring nuclear reactors, it was unsuccessful when it came to Iraq. The 1970s energy crisis thus had an enduring impact on nuclear proliferation in the Gulf.
Unpacking the Pentagon’s $3.1 Billion Climate Request (John Conger, Council on Strategic Risks)
On March 28, the U.S. Federal Budget request for Fiscal Year 2023 (FY2023) was released, officially kicking off the Congressional budget season and the ensuing posture testimonies, staffer briefs, and associated deep dives into the details of the budget. With that first release, however, the Department of Defense (DoD) had not yet made available the budget details – instead providing just an information appetizer in the form of an overview slide deck. The slides indicated that the DoD characterized $3.1 billion of its budget request as “climate investment” in four categories: Installation Resiliency and Adaptation ($2 billion); Science and Technology ($807 million); Operational Energy and Buying Power ($247 million); and Contingency Preparedness ($28 million). These categories roughly line up with similar categories from FY2022 but represent significant increases in each. (Cont.)
