Energy security

Uranium One Focus: Corruption, Not National Security

Further on Jonah’s post, I’ve tried to flesh out the Uranium One scandal in two columns (here and here). Two basic things about the transaction are misunderstood. First, as Jonah contends, because of uranium’s essential part in the production of nuclear power, people hear the word and understandably think nuclear weapons. That impression is reinforced in the Uranium One scenario because it is discussed in national security terms – i.e., the transfer of the assets to a Kremlin-connected business had to be approved by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which gets involved when the acquisition of American assets by foreign entities could have national security implications. But the security problem with the Uranium One transaction was not that the Russians might ship the uranium out of our country to make nuclear weapons. The problem has to do with domestic energy supply and consumption.