New START: White House Figures Are Deceptive

Baker Spring / July 21, 2010

According to press reports, an undisclosed State Department report on the new strategic arms control treaty with Russia, called New START, reveals that the Obama Administration is not concerned about the implications of Russian cheating under the treaty. Specifically, the State Department report supposedly states that “any Russian cheating under the treaty would have little effect, if any, on the assured second-strike capabilities of U.S. strategic forces.”

New START is now being examined by a variety of Senate committees in advance of a possible future vote in the Senate on consenting to the ratification of the treaty. Up until now, Senate examination has made it appear that the Obama Administration was willing to use New START as a means for accepting a parity relationship with Russia in terms strategic nuclear forces. This development represented a huge concession to Russia because the treaty will force the U.S. to limit its strategic nuclear force in accordance with Russia’s lesser near-term capacity to field such forces. (more…)