Introduction

    The information digest consists of the main section that includes the current information for the fourth quarter of 2001 and a number of annexes for specific nuclear-policy-related issues.

The current information includes rendering and excerpts from 105 Western and Russian information sources organized into the following five topics:

• Arms control and offensive arms reduction.
• Development of new defense policies.
• Non-proliferation processes and initiatives.
• Minatom's activities in Russia and at the international scene.
• Nuclear terrorism threats.

    The digest annexes present 13 materials.

Annex 1 contains excerpts from the statement of IAEA Director General Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei to the Symposium on International Safeguards: Verification and Nuclear Material Security. Nuclear non-proliferation, nuclear arms control and nuclear terrorism were the main topics of Dr. ElBaradei's statement.

Annex 2 includes excerpts from the book Defending America by James M. Lindsay and Michael E. O'Hanlon, senior fellows of the Brookings Institution. The book examines a wide range of issues related to the development of a U.S. national missile defense.

Annex 3 presents an article by Hans M. Kristensen, a senior program officer with the Nautilus Institute in Berkeley, California. The main topics of the article are the so-called U.S. "hedge" nuclear stockpile and remaining "relic" cold-war-age approaches in the new U.S. nuclear strategy.

Annex 4 contains a list of confirmed proliferation-significant incidents of fissile material trafficking in the newly independent states from 1991 to 2001. The list was prepared by the Center for Nonproliferation Studies of the Monterey Institute of International Studies.

Annex 5 includes excerpts from an article by Chunyan Ma, researcher in Weapon System Development and Arms Control Studies in China's Defense Science and Technology Information Center, and Frank von Hippel, professor of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. The article focuses on the problem of naval nuclear reactor conversion from highly enriched uranium to low enriched uranium.

Annex 6 presents remarks on terrorism at the opening of the 14th NATO Review Meeting by Jim Thomson, President and CEO of RAND Corporation.

Annex 7 includes excerpts from an article by B.Raman, expert from the South Asia Analysis Group. The main focus of the article is origins of international terrorism in the Indo-Pakistan region.

Annex 8 presents an article by Laxman Bahroo, expert from the Bharat Rakshak Monitor. The article examines history and origins of the Taliban movement.

Annex 9 includes excerpts from an article by B.Raman, expert from the South Asia Analysis Group. The main focus of the article is common characteristics and qualities of individual terrorists as well as terrorist groups and organizations.

Annex 10 includes an article by Stephen Schwartz, publisher of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and editor and co-author of Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Since 1940 (1998). The article focuses on the problem of reliability of U.S. nuclear weapons.

Annex 11 presents an article by Chuck Hansen, expert and author of Swords of Armageddon. The article examines a resumption of nuclear testing by the United States in the context of the problem of reliability of U.S. nuclear weapons.