When Taro Kono was growing up as the son of a major Japanese political party leader, he had what he calls a "fever for the atom." Like many of his countrymen, he regarded nuclear power plants as his country's ticket to postwar prosperity, a modern, economical way to meet huge energy needs on an island with few natural resources. 

Early in his first term in office, President Obama identified nuclear terrorism as "the most immediate and extreme threat to global security" and hosted the first Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, DC, with a goal to secure all vulnerable nuclear materials. Years later, supporters and critics of the Obama administration alike continue to underscore the importance of this task as focus turns now to the third Nuclear Security Summit, this time in The Hague in late March. 

Highlights of GAO-14-109, a report to the Chairman, Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Committee on Environment and Public Works, U.S. Senate. 

 Be careful of self-fulfilling prophecies about the intentions for Iran's nuclear program. Often, Western analysts view this program through the lens of realist political science theory such that Iranian leaders seek nuclear weapons to counteract threats made to overthrow their regime or to exert dominance in the Middle East. To lend support to the former argument, Iranian leaders can point to certain political leaders in the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, or other governments that desire, if not actively pursue, the downfall of the Islamic Republic of Iran. To back up the latter rationale for nuclear weapons, Iran has a strong case to make to become the dominant regional political power: it has the largest population of any of its neighbors, has a well-educated and relatively technically advanced country, and can shut off the vital flow of oil and gas from the Strait of Hormuz. 

Senior Obama administration officials are insisting the government is not retreating from its focus on nuclear security despite proposed funding cuts.

The administration's fiscal 2015 budget proposal, announced last week, would eliminate in excess of $220 million in funding for nuclear security and nonproliferation efforts, USA Todayreported on Saturday.

Russia has taken important steps in modernizing its nuclear forces since early 2013, including the continued development and deployment of new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), construction of ballistic missile submarines, and development of a new strategic bomber. As of March 2013, the authors estimate, Russia had a military stockpile of approximately 4,300 nuclear warheads, of which roughly 1,600 strategic warheads were deployed on missiles and at bomber bases. Another 700 strategic warheads are in storage along with roughly 2,000 nonstrategic warheads. A large number-perhaps 3,500-of retired but still largely intact warheads await dismantlement.