Guys With All The Right Stuff

Ricky Trotman / July 02, 2010

Eleven members of the Senate Armed Services Committee released a letter to the chairman and ranking member of the Committee, Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) in anticipation of the hearings on the New START Treaty. The senators are calling for a broader spectrum of witnesses, beyond the administration officials that the Obama Administration has put forward so far, in order to fully address the wide array of questions that arise from the treaty. The potential witnesses requested in the letter include:

• Admiral Richard Mies (retired) – Admiral Mies was a former commander in chief of United States Strategic Command. During his time in the Navy he served on two nuclear attack submarines and a ballistic missile submarine.
• Dr. Keith Payne – Dr. Payne served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Forces and Policy. In this position he negotiated with the Russian Federation on Ballistic Missile Defenses. He was also a member of the 1998 “Rumsfeld Study” on missile proliferation.
• Mr. Stephen Rademaker – Mr. Rademaker is a former Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Arms Control where he directed non-proliferation policy toward Iran and North Korea as well as the Proliferation Security Initiative.

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