The fourth and final Nuclear Security Summit planned by President Barack Obama to enhance international cooperation on the issue opens Thursday in Washington, D.C. Leaders from 56 countries and international organizations are expected to attend the two-day talks. Representatives last met in March 2014 in The Hague, Netherlands. At the close of that summit, Obama said the participants expected this week’s summit to be a “transition summit in which heads of state and government are still participating, but that we are shifting towards a more sustainable model that utilizes our ministers, our technical people, and we are building some sort of architecture that can effectively focus and implement on these issues and supplement the good work that is being done by the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] and others.” Obama will host delegation heads at the White House Thursday night for a working dinner to start the summit.
The Pentagon has concluded a new agreement to buy laser-guidance kits that turn rockets into drone-killing weapons. BAE Systems and the Defense Department announced a framework deal of up to seven years for 25,000 Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System guidance kits annually for the U.S. military.