Elaine M. Grossman

Elaine M. Grossman

Global Security Newswire, Nuclear Arms, Terrorism and Weapons of Mass Destruction

Elaine M. Grossman is a reporter with Global Security Newswire, covering issues related to nuclear arms, terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. She is a veteran national security and foreign affairs reporter whose articles have won 13 national journalism awards over the past decade, including top honors from the National Press Club and Society of Professional Journalists for investigative, analytical, online and breaking-news reporting. Grossman’s articles have appeared in a wide array of newspapers and magazines, including National Journal, U.S. News & World Report, The Boston Globe, The Miami Herald, The Christian Science Monitor and St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

In 2003, Grossman served as a war correspondent for U.S. News & World Report during a six-week, media-embedding post at the ground-combat headquarters in Kuwait. She subsequently wrote about the opening days of the Iraq war during a yearlong stint as a visiting scholar at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, winning a top National Press Club award for the article. Previously senior correspondent and chief editor at the independent investigative weekly Inside the Pentagon, Grossman holds a bachelor's degree from Washington University and a master's degree in international affairs from Columbia University.

Elaine M. Grossman's Latest Posts

Former U.S. National Security Leaders Object to ‘More Restrictive’ Nuclear Trade Policies

A half-dozen former U.S. national security leaders last month implored President Obama to avoid tightening restrictions on foreign nuclear cooperation in the interest of nonproliferation. Read More »

The Psychology of a Boston Marathon Terrorist: 10 Questions for a Retired Marine

“Terrorists are not psychotics or mentally disordered,” retired Marine Corps Reserve officer and criminal behavior expert G.I. Wilson said. Read More »

Amid Deep Cuts, the Pentagon Labors to Keep Its Forces Ready for Korea

As tensions escalate on the Korean Peninsula, the U.S. military is striving to maintain peak readiness for forces assigned to the region, Defense Department leaders said on Wednesday. Deep cutbacks in training and preparedness accou...

Read More »

Pakistan's 'Strategic Pivot' May Not Include Reforming Its Nuclear Policies

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- The Pakistani military and the nation’s recently dissolved government have been touting a “strategic pivot” toward increased cooperation and transparency with regional neighbors, but it is far from clear...

Read More »

Why Almost Nobody Likes News About Pakistani Nuclear Security

There’s an old adage about blaming the messenger who bears bad news – a practice often applied to journalists -- but when it comes to disturbing media revelations about the potential theft or unauthorized use of Pakistani nuclea...

Read More »

Why Doubts Are Growing About An Alleged Syrian Chemical Attack

If recent media reports have left you with an impression that Bashar Assad might already have used chemical weapons against his own people, think again. Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

What the Fiscal-Cliff Deal Means for Russian Nukes

Buried inside legislation to avert the federal budget “fiscal cliff,” passed by the U.S. Senate and House on Tuesday, are two retroactive changes to wording on nuclear arms reductions found in a recently passed defense authoriza...

Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

What Can the U.S. Do About Syria's Chemical Weapons?

U.S. and allied officials have spent increasingly long hours over the past several days planning intensely for potential military and diplomatic responses in the event that the Syrian chemical-weapons threat heightens, according ...

Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

Decision on Proliferation Assessments Pending at Nuclear Agency

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is poised to consider whether to begin requiring license applicants for emerging technologies to evaluate any associated proliferation risks, following the submission of a staff paper on the matt...

Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

Officials: U.S., Taiwan 'Discussing Assurances' on Sensitive Nuclear Activities

The United States and Taiwan have begun “discussing assurances” that could result in the East Asian nation’s pledge to avoid sensitive nuclear activities as part of a bilateral atomic trade pact renewal, Taiwan government o...

Read More »
CAMPAIGN 2012

Ryan, Biden Clash Over Credibility of Obama Ultimatum on Iran

Twelve minutes into Thursday’s vice presidential debate, Paul Ryan assailed President Obama’s credibility in insisting his administration plans to do whatever necessary -- even potentially conducting military strikes -- to pr...

Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

European Nuclear Base Security Tightened Over Years, U.S. Brass Says

Security at European bases where U.S. tactical nuclear weapons are stored has tightened in recent years, heightening confidence that they would not be vulnerable to intrusions of the kind seen at a Tennessee atomic facility in Ju...

Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

U.S. Nuclear Commander Warns Against Rushing Further Arms Cuts

A U.S. Air Force general who oversees nuclear-capable bombers and ICBMs warned on Thursday against seeking deeper arms-control reductions with Russia until the ramifications of such cuts could be fully weighed. Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

Seeking Kremlin Engagement, NATO Weighs Next Nuclear Posture Steps

Defense and foreign-ministry officials from NATO’s 28 member nations are meeting in the capital of Slovakia this week to quietly explore how they will pursue nuclear deterrence policies embraced last May at an alliance summit i...

Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

State Department Sought to Put Taiwan Nuclear Trade Pact Ahead in Queue

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. State Department moved nearly a year ago to put Taiwan ahead of other nations with which Washington hoped to pursue a nuclear trade agreement, drafting text for a renewal pact that would include a key nonproli...

Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

Taiwan Ready to Forgo Nuclear Fuel-Making in U.S. Trade Pact Renewal

WASHINGTON -- The government of Taiwan is prepared to renounce any right to produce nuclear fuel in a forthcoming renewal of its 40-year-old atomic energy cooperation agreement with the United States, according to officials from bot...

Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

Senior General: U.S. Atomic Arsenal Could Deter a Nuclear-Armed Iran

The top U.S. military commander for strategic combat on Thursday said  that Washington’s atomic weapons could serve as the ultimate tool for deterring a nuclear-armed Iran. Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

Nonproliferation Advocate Asks NRC to Open Hearing on Laser Enrichment

A nonproliferation activist has requested that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission open to the public a final board hearing before approving a license for the nation’s first commercial laser enrichment facility (see GSN ,...

Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

Key Senator Calls House Missile Defense Provision a “Cold War” Vestige

WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the U.S. Senate’s Armed Services Committee on Thursday called a House initiative to deploy a missile defense site on the nation’s East Coast before 2016 “a replay of an old Cold War debate” (see...

Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

Ex-White House Aide: National Lab Directors Urged Delay in Plutonium Facility

A former White House aide on Monday said that the directors of the U.S. national laboratories “came forward” during closed-door budget-planning sessions five months ago to propose a delay in building a plutonium research facilit...

Read More »

U.S. Air Force Approves Concept for Future ICBM, Eyes Navy Collaboration

A senior-level U.S. Air Force panel has approved a document that formally articulates the need for a new ground-based missile system to replace today’s nuclear-armed Minuteman 3 arsenal (See  GSN , Feb. 10) . Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

U.S. General: Cost Worries Could Derail Plan for Next Bomber to Be Unmanned

Making the nation’s bomber aircraft capable of flying by remote control could prove unaffordable, a senior Air Force general said on Thursday (see GSN , April 26). Read More »
CONGRESS

Nuclear Trade Reform Bill Faces Hostile Lobbying, as Obama Team Renews Policy Review

Intense industry opposition is casting uncertainty over the prospects for a pending House bill that would expand the role of Congress in reviewing nuclear trade agreements, government sources and experts close to the issue say (s...

Read More »
CONGRESS

Pressure Intensifies for Senate Hearing on White House Nuclear-Trade Policy

Lawmakers and issue experts are joining forces across party lines in an effort to persuade Sen. John Kerry , D-Mass., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to schedule a hearing on a controversial Obama administrat...

Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

U.S. Warhead Upkeep to Get Top Priority if Deeper Budget Cuts Are Imposed

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration would give highest priority to maintaining warheads fielded on the nation’s arsenal of ICBMs, ballistic-missile submarines, and bomber aircraft if automatic budget cuts affect t...

Read More »
CONGRESS

U.S. Nuclear Trade Policy Concerns Mounting on Capitol Hill

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen , R-Fla., chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has added her name to a growing bipartisan list of influential lawmakers protesting a newly unveiled Obama administration policy on nuclear tr...

Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

Air Force Eyes Mobile Options for Future ICBMs

The Air Force is studying a wide range of options for how to base future nuclear ICBMs, including the possibility of making them mobile rather than installing them in fixed underground silos, a service official said in an interview. Read More »
DEFENSE

Pentagon Unveils New Plan for Conventional Submarine-Based Ballistic Missiles

The U.S. Defense Department plans to develop a new conventional ballistic missile for fielding on attack submarines, according to major budget decisions announced on Thursday at the Pentagon (see GSN , Dec. 23, 2011). Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

Obama Team Reveals Nuclear Trade, Nonproliferation Decision on Capitol Hill

The Obama administration told key lawmakers by letter on Tuesday how it intends to pursue upcoming nuclear trade agreements with one or more partner states, and the decision was believed to shed light on whether such pacts would ...

Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

New U.S. Defense Strategy Lays Groundwork for More Nuclear Cuts

A fresh U.S. defense strategy unveiled by President Obama at the Pentagon on Thursday asserts that nuclear deterrence can be maintained with a smaller stockpile, while renewing earlier assurances that the remaining arsenal would ...

Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

Who Has North Korea’s Nuclear 'Football'? Few Have an Answer

On the heels of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s death, outside experts seem more uncertain than ever about who retains control over the hermit nation’s nuclear weapons or authority for their potential use. Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

Bill Provisions on U.S. Nuclear Policy Await House-Senate Conference

The top four lawmakers on the House and Senate Armed Services committees met Thursday for a second day behind closed doors to hash out a compromise bill on fiscal 2012 defense authorization, a process expected to resolve months of d...

Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

Some Nuclear Experts Question Ramp-Up in U.S. Tritium Production

The U.S. nuclear complex is expanding production of an exotic gas widely seen as essential for keeping nuclear weapons functioning, but some progressive issue experts cast doubt on just how much new fabrication is required (see ...

Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

GE-Hitachi Fined for "Significant" Security Breaches in Nuclear Fuel Effort

WASHINGTON—GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy has paid more than $45,000 in penalties for "significant" violations of federal regulations in its effort to develop a new means of producing atomic fuel, Global Security Newswire has learned . Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

Senior U.S. Official Denies Talk of Foreign Nuclear-Waste Site in Mongolia

A senior U.S. Energy Department official disputed reports that the Obama administration has sought Mongolian support for construction of a storage site for international spent nuclear fuel in the Central Asian nation. Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

U.S. Officials: Latest Tumbling Satellite Doesn't Warrant Space Intercept

An out-of-control satellite is expected to reenter the Earth's atmosphere in the next couple of weeks, but U.S. officials say they have determined that the risk to humans does not warrant a preemptive intercept . Read More »

Top U.S. Nuclear Commander Signals Modest Tack on Updating Forces

The nation's top military commander for nuclear weapons on Tuesday said he wants to preserve the U.S. strategic triad of bomber aircraft, submarines, and land-based ICBMs, but he warned that modernization plans for aging platforms c...

Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

Top General: U.S. Needs Fresh Look at Deterrence, Nuclear Triad

WASHINGTON -- The nation's second-ranking military officer on Thursday called for a broad reassessment of how to deter significant threats to the United States. Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

Mullen: Pakistani Nuclear Controls Should Avert Any Insider Threat

The highest ranking U.S. military officer said on Thursday that Pakistan's control over its nuclear weapons appears tight enough to protect against the possibility of seizure by extremist sympathizers who might infiltrate the nati...

Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

Nukes in N.D. Survive Flooding, But Snow Melt Threatens Them

The Souris River flood inundating Minot, N.D., has spared the 150 nuclear-armed strategic ballistic missiles on alert in underground silos at a nearby Air Force base, according to a service spokeswoman. Read More »

Senate Bill Echoes House Questions About Obama's Nuclear Strategy

The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee last week issued new legislation that echoes questions about President Obama's nuclear-weapons strategy initially raised last month in the House. Read More »
APPROPRIATIONS

House Committee Slashes Conventional 'Global-Strike' Funds

The U.S. House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday recommended a nearly 50 percent cut in funding for the development of conventionally armed, fast-strike weapons for the upcoming budget year. Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

U.S. Diplomat: No Sign of al-Qaida WMD Plot to Avenge bin Laden's Death

The U.S. government has not yet seen any indications of an al-Qaeda plot to exact revenge for the killing of Osama bin Laden by using weapons of mass destruction, a top counterterrorism official said Tuesday morning. Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

Panetta: Yemeni Support for Counterterrorism Persists, Despite Instability

Political chaos and social unrest in Yemen have not hindered that nation's cooperation with the United States in countering terrorist activities , CIA Director Leon Panetta told a congressional panel on Thursday. Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

Why a U.S. Attack Against Iran Is Unlikely

Two retired U.S. senior Persian Gulf experts--one a diplomat, the other a Navy admiral--said at separate events on Tuesday that a military strike against Iran's nuclear sector appears both inadvisable and unlikely, at least for...

Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

European Union to Tackle Middle East WMD Issue at July Meeting

The European Union is readying plans to convene a meeting early next month at which government officials and issue experts are to discuss prospects for eliminating weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East (see GSN , May 20). Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

House Approves Bill With Treaty-Limiting Provisions as Veto Bait

The House passed legislation on Thursday that limits how nuclear-arms reductions mandated by a new treaty with Russia can be implemented. Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

Cartwright Passed Over for Top U.S. Military Post

President Obama has decided to pass over Gen. James Cartwright for the U.S. military's highest post as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to defense sources. Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

After a Dangerous Year, Little Progress in Making the Mideast Nuke-Free

As the one-year anniversary approaches on an international commitment to discuss the elimination of weapons of mass destruction from the Middle East, little progress has been made on even the most preliminary steps. Read More »

Latest Pakistani Assurances on Nuclear Security Draw Mixed Reaction

A Pakistani army assertion last week that the nation's nuclear weapons remain safeguarded against potential terrorist theft has drawn mixed reaction in the U.S. capital. Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

GOP Leaders Aim to Enforce Obama's Nuclear Modernization Promises

Sen. Jon Kyl , R-Ariz., and Rep. Michael Turner , R-Ohio, are spearheading legislation aimed at holding the Obama administration accountable for nuclear modernization pledges it made last year. Read More »
ENERGY

Mongolia May Store Region's Spent Nuclear Fuel, Senior U.S. Official Says

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration has held informal talks with Mongolia about the possibility that the Central Asian nation might host an international repository for its region's spent nuclear fuel, a senior U.S. diploma...

Read More »

GOP Senator: Obama Budget Gap Shows 'Gradual Retreat' on Nuclear Updates

Sen. Lindsey Graham said yesterday that he views a Defense Department misstep in omitting fiscal 2012 funds for a future-ICBM study as a harbinger of the Obama administration's "gradual retreat" from nuclear modernization commitment...

Read More »
DEFENSE

Pentagon Budget May Omit Funds for Promised ICBM Modernization Study

The U.S. Defense Department budget request for the coming fiscal year omits funds that were to have allowed the Air Force to study the prospects for a new ICBM to eventually replace today's Minuteman 3 arsenal, according to a sen...

Read More »
FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Obama Team Eyes Saudi Nuclear Trade Deal Without Nonproliferation Terms

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is taking initial steps to negotiate a civil nuclear trade pact with Saudi Arabia that could lack key nonproliferation provisions included in a similar 2009 deal with one of Riyadh's Pers...

Read More »
NATIONAL SECURITY

Democrats Scramble to Lock in GOP Votes for Arms Treaty

The White House yesterday succeeded in advancing the New START agreement toward Senate ratification, with one lawmaker shy of a two-thirds majority voting to begin floor debate on the matter (see GSN , Dec. 15). Read More »
NATONAL SECURITY

Is U.S.-Russian Nuclear Pact Dead This Year?

Senate Democrats and Republicans strategized in party caucuses on how to proceed regarding the New START agreement, following the statement by Minority Whip Jon Kyl that a ratification vote was unlikely by year's end. Read More »
FROM GLOBAL SECURITY NEWSWIRE

Pentagon Pulls $1B From WMD-Defense Efforts

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Defense Department has shifted more than $1 billion out of its nuclear, biological and chemical defense programs to underwrite a new White House priority on vaccine development and production to combat disease...

Read More »

Inside Obama Administration, A Tug Of War Over Nuclear Warheads

Vice President Joe Biden in early June blocked a Defense Department bid to revive a defunct program aimed at fielding modern nuclear warheads across the strategic arsenal, according to those familiar with the episode. Read More »
SEE MORE
Follow National Journal
  • NationalJournal on Twitter
  • NationalJournal on Facebook
  • NationalJournal on Tumblr
  • NationalJournal's RSS Feeds
  • NationalJournal's Email Newsletters
  • NationalJournal on iPhone and iPad
Photo of the Day
Latest Magazine
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

Latest cover story: "Why You Won’t Own Your Road " -- private-public transportation partnerships may just be a way of forcing drivers to pay more in the long run.

Read this and all of the stories in the latest magazine.

National Journal Email Alerts

Stay ahead of the curve with these alerts.
Learn more.