20 Apr 06. MoD Performance: Defence Committee Report. The Defence Committee published a Report on the MoD Annual Report and Accounts 2004/05, which had been published on 28 Oct 05 as HC 464. The two main parts of the Report cover the MoD’s Annual Performance Report and the Departmental Resource Accounts, followed by a record of the oral evidence given on 24 Jan 06 and 15 pages of MoD written evidence. Comment: The MoD Memoranda reveal a disturbing attitude to taxpayers money. Claimed ‘savings’ by the Defence Logistics Organisation could not be validated. Losses on the four Bay Class vessels had caused Swan Hunter’s contract to rise from £148m to £309m and BAE Systems’ from £122m to £176m (with further increases forecast). At AWE Aldermaston £147m was wasted erecting a building which could not be used. The Report is available from TSO and from The Parliamentary Bookshop (Tel: 020-7219 3890), as HC 822, for £13:50. (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 0616, 24 Apr 06)
13 Apr 06. European Union (EU): Sources of Information. The Minister for Europe launched a new website (www.europe.gov.uk) to provide information on the EU. A new EU Guide is also available online at the website. Comment: Copies of the EU Guide can be obtained by telephone from the FCO Communications Team (020-7008 3621), by e-mail () or by writing to: FCO (Minister for Europe), King Charles Street, London SW1A 2AH. (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 0616, 24 Apr 06) (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 0616,
24 Apr 06. The Domestic Politics of Missile Defence, A special issue of, Contemporary Security Policy. After forty years of debate and research, missile defence is becoming a part of the reality of international security. Although missile defence is shaped everywhere by American leadership, it also has become a serious issue for policy- making around the world. This special issue of Contemporary Security Policy examines the politics of missile defense in sixteen countries. These case studies stress democratic decision-making. They reveal a picture of strategic planning that is less about classic concerns about deterrence failure and crisis stability, and more preoccupied with every country’s distinct domestic politics and national foreign policy agendas. Among the major conclusions: The end of the ABM Treaty has been grudgingly accepted or cautiously welcomed around the world, Almost all democracies support Theatre Missile Defence, The United States is non-comparable as the dominant power structuring the entire missile defence issue area. The case studies return time and again to the overwhelming salience of American strategic policy in the international system. Every country approaches missile
defense its own way, but almost always, national debates dwell on how to engage the United States. Even among democracies, though, the case studies reveal great diversity in attitudes toward America preponderance. Some are delighted by this reality, others appalled, but almost every nation’s encounter with missile defence turns into a test of relations with the United States.