The lead article in today’s New York Times, “Agenda of Nuclear Talks Leaves Out a New Threat,” describes the summit President Obama will be having this week to enforce the security of existing nuclear weapons and weapons-grade material and a new development, the production of more nuclear material by Pakistan.

Apparently, steam has been observed coming from the cooling tower of a current plant in the country, suggesting this unfortunate turn of events. Pakistan, a country hosting major Al Qaeda training camps, represents one of the worst locations for this production to be occurring. Pakistan, however, is reacting to its ongoing fear of an Indian attack, and the nuclear arms race between the two has become worse since the United States, in effect, recognized India’s right to nuclear arms without the sanctions usually imposed for this occurrence.

The summit meeting President Obama will be holding represents the largest gathering of world leaders since FDR called one to found the United Nations. The  President has rightly noted that the procurement of a nuclear weapon or nuclear material by a terrorist group is the largest threat to our national security in the short-, medium- and long-term future.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s increased production of nuclear material makes the securement and locking down of this material even more difficult. Even though the conference was not called to address this issue, the article paints a rightly ominous tone regarding its  overall impact.

The lead article in today’s New York Times, “Obama to Limit Scenarios to Use Nuclear Weapon,” describes the release of a new defense strategy limiting the cases when the United States would execute a nuclear first strike or a nuclear strike in reaction to non-nuclear provocation.

Predictably, the strategy is drawing criticism from the right, but, in my opinion, this strategy represents a balanced and nuanced approach similar to President Obama’s efforts in other policy areas. The strategy denounces the creation of any new nuclear weapons and limits the use of these weapons against any non-nuclear nation. Exceptions are made for Iran and North Korea due to their rogue status.

President Obama will be promoting this strategy at a series of upcoming events including the signing of the recent arms agreement with Russia in Prague on Thursday and a summit meeting on nuclear security with 47 nations next week.

The deliberations behind the new strategy were exhaustive, similar to the debate that occurred regarding our Afghanistan strategy, and even more so. Apparently, there were approximately 150 meetings among various players, with President Obama stepping in to resolve disputes on several occasions. The strategy is being announced months behind schedule.

While I’m not privy to classified information regarding nuclear weapons, our new strategy has a good feel to it, like we’re moving forward instead of remaining mired in past Cold War conflicts. Hopefully, it will be followed by even stricter agreements moving towards President Obama’s ultimate goal, a world without the possibility of nuclear holocaust.