Policy & Strategy

President Obama “was really stating the obvious” when he told Russian leader Dmitri Medvedev that he'd have “more flexibility” to deal with Russia's concerns on missile defense after the election, the State Department's top arms-control official told Congress on Thursday.

“He was stating that during this 2012 election year — it's an election year both in the Russian Federation and in the United States of America — it's not going to be a year for breakthroughs,” Assistant Secretary for Arms Control, Verification and Compliance Rose Gottemoeller said at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. “And so he was saying this will be a year that we get the technical experts together, we'll have some discussions about what cooperation may be possible [in the future].”

The March 26 episode has dogged the administration ever since, with some Republicans accusing Obama of having a “secret deal” with Russia to curtail plans for a missile defense shield in Europe. The criticism was back in force Thursday as senators weighed the effects of the New START nuclear disarmament treaty 18 months after passage.

“We cannot afford to be in the business we are in, on this committee or as a country, and be counting one representation for meeting commitments while on the other side we're seeing a wink and a nod to the other side,” said Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.). “We've made a treaty not just with the Russian Federation but with the American people.”

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta offered his condolences and "best wishes" to the newly selected Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud on the death of the Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, while leading a delegation to Saudi Arabia this week.

The House Armed Services chairman said Congress isn’t “mature enough” to reach a deal that would reverse sequestration.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton cautioned that Iran not be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon, not only because of own intentions, but because she believes it would spur a regional arms race.

“That’s not something I personally would bring up — that doesn’t mean that others won’t,” GOP Rep. McKeon said.

The State Department on Thursday designated the leader of Nigeria's Boko Haram organization and two of his acolytes as “Specially Designated Global Terrorists” for their role in attacks on Christian churches and other targets.

A farm bill amendment will require reports from the administration on automatic cuts to both defense and non-defense spending.

The Topline: A bevy of current and former Washington heavy-hitters will give their two cents on the raft of national security challenges — from the dangers of sequestration to fighting on a cyber battlefield — facing the United States in the near future. The agenda for Bloomberg's first annual defense conference on Thursday is a who's who of the defense world. Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), the respective chairman and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, are on the agenda, along with House Armed Services Committee chief Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.). Senior House defense appropriator and Boeing fan Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) will also be in attendance alongside former DOD comptroller Tina Jonas, former DHS chief Michael Chertoff and Vice Admiral Bill Landay, head of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency. With all that national security know-how under one roof, defense scribes and observers alike should be in for a show. 

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A think tank says Iran might have conducted further clean-up activity at its Parchin military site, where Iran is suspected of testing nuclear materials and has thus far refused to allow International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to visit.

The Institute for Science and International Security, a Washington think tank, posted Wednesday satellite images of the facility from June 7 that show “heavy machinery tracks and earth displacement throughout the site.”

“There is evidence of earth moving machinery and excavation activity near the second demolished building north of the building suspected to contain the high explosive testing chamber,” the report says.

The threat of U.S. military action to thwart Iran's secretive nuclear program holds no weight in Tehran's eyes because of the massive automatic defense budget cuts expected later this year, according to House Republicans.