Briefing Skipper: Burns in Geneva, Mottaki in DC, HRC to Ireland, missing diplomat
In which we scour the transcript of the State Department’s daily presser so you don’t have to. Here are the highlights of today’s briefing by spokesman Ian Kelly: Under secretary of state William Burns met one-on-one with the Iranian delegation head Saeed Jalili in Geneva today, Kelly said. Many issues were discussed, including the fate ...
In which we scour the transcript of the State Department's daily presser so you don't have to. Here are the highlights of today's briefing by spokesman Ian Kelly:
In which we scour the transcript of the State Department’s daily presser so you don’t have to. Here are the highlights of today’s briefing by spokesman Ian Kelly:
- Under secretary of state William Burns met one-on-one with the Iranian delegation head Saeed Jalili in Geneva today, Kelly said. Many issues were discussed, including the fate of three detained hikers, and another meeting will take place before the end of October. "It was also agreed … that low-enriched uranium produced in Iran would be transported to third countries for further enrichment and fabrication into fuel assemblies," he added. Iran also apparently agreed to let inspectors visit the secretive Qom facility.
- Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was in Washington yesterday, stayed overnight, and left town this morning, Kelly said. He didn’t meet with any current U.S. officials, but he was the highest- ranking Iranian official to be granted a visa since 1978.
- The U.S. is sending a Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) to Indonesia to aid in the aftermath of the earthquake there. $3 million has been set aside in relief assistance funds. No American casualties known as of now.
- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s next trip will be to Ireland, the UK, and Russia. In Russia, she’ll no doubt be discussing the follow-on to the START nuclear-reductions treaty.
- Vice Consul James Hogan has gone missing in Curacao.
Josh Rogin covers national security and foreign policy and writes the daily Web column The Cable. His column appears bi-weekly in the print edition of The Washington Post. He can be reached for comments or tips at josh.rogin@foreignpolicy.com.
Previously, Josh covered defense and foreign policy as a staff writer for Congressional Quarterly, writing extensively on Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantánamo Bay, U.S.-Asia relations, defense budgeting and appropriations, and the defense lobbying and contracting industries. Prior to that, he covered military modernization, cyber warfare, space, and missile defense for Federal Computer Week Magazine. He has also served as Pentagon Staff Reporter for the Asahi Shimbun, Japan's leading daily newspaper, in its Washington, D.C., bureau, where he reported on U.S.-Japan relations, Chinese military modernization, the North Korean nuclear crisis, and more.
A graduate of George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, Josh lived in Yokohama, Japan, and studied at Tokyo's Sophia University. He speaks conversational Japanese and has reported from the region. He has also worked at the House International Relations Committee, the Embassy of Japan, and the Brookings Institution.
Josh's reporting has been featured on CNN, MSNBC, C-Span, CBS, ABC, NPR, WTOP, and several other outlets. He was a 2008-2009 National Press Foundation's Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellow, 2009 military reporting fellow with the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism and the 2011 recipient of the InterAction Award for Excellence in International Reporting. He hails from Philadelphia and lives in Washington, D.C. Twitter: @joshrogin
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