Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld believes it’s only prudent to employ ICBMs with conventional warheads to counter threats by weapons of mass destruction. Rumsfeld, who was speaking at a news conference Sunday in Alaska with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, asserted that such a capability would entail a communications link with Russia and cooperation. He said, “If either of our countries … were threatened in the future with a weapon of mass destruction, … I think any president would like to have available a conventional weapon that could attack that target swiftly and accurately and precisely.” According to Reuters news service, Ivanov hesitated, saying other options might be possible. A DOD news release quoted Ivanov as calling for “transparency and predictability, as well as mutual respect.”
DARPA Changing Directors Again in Third Recent Shuffle
Jan. 21, 2021
The Biden administration is reportedly tapping Stefanie Tompkins to run the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, spurring the third leadership change at the secretive Pentagon organization since January 2020. Defense One first reported Tompkins’s "pre-decisional" appointment to the post on Jan. 19. The White House did not respond to a…