Background

The Strategic Arms Reductions Treaty (START) was an agreement between the United States and Russia to reduce nuclear weapons and the vehicles on which they can be delivered. That important treaty is now expired, and the Obama administration is working diligently to negotiate a new treaty to continue nuclear reductions.

Originally proposed by President Reagan, START was signed by Presidents Bush and Gorbachev in 1991. The treaty limited the U.S. and Russia to 1,600 strategic delivery vehicles each – including long-range weapons on missiles, submarines and bombers. This reduced the number of strategic warheads each side could deploy to 6,000 – down from Cold War highs of tens of thousands. The treaty’s robust inspections regime was the cornerstone of stability between the former Cold War rivals.

Both the U.S. and Russia met the 5 December 2001 deadline for completed reductions and continued beyond the mandated levels. The two parties sought additional agreements, ratifying START II in 1996 and agreeing on a framework for START III in 1997, though neither agreement took effect. During its tenure, the Bush administration chose to not pursue START dialogues. Instead, the administration negotiated reductions through the unverifiable 2003 SORT Treaty, while allowing START and its crucial inspections regime to lapse.

START expired on 5 December 2009. Teams from the U.S. and Russia are currently negotiating a follow-on treaty to reduce the number of delivery vehicles and strategic weapons to even lower levels – likely around 1,500 deployed strategic warheads and 800 delivery vehicles. Ratification for a START follow-on agreement will require a two-thirds majority in the U.S. Senate.

Purpose

Today, the U.S. and Russia possess nearly 96% of the world’s nuclear weapons - 9,400 and 12,000 warheads, respectively. These obese nuclear arsenals are a liability, not an asset. These arsenals increase the chance that a nuclear missile could, through accident or miscalculation, be launched at a world city. Additionally, with each warhead comes the risk that nuclear weapons or materials could fall into terrorist hands – resulting in a nuclear 9/11.

There is great opportunity and urgency for the U.S. and Russia to reduce their arsenals. Doing so would improve international security and provide the necessary leadership to stop the spread of nuclear weapons and work towards a nuclear-free world. Under the original START agreement, the U.S. and Russia removed more than 80% of their deployed strategic nuclear weapons. The new START treaty will rebuild and update the previous treaty’s verifications regime, improving security and transparency between the U.S. and Russia.

Major Issues

Winning a two-thirds majority in the Senate will be a battle. Some conservative senators, lead by Arizona Republican Senator Jon Kyl, are linking their vote on the new START treaty to more money, modernization, or even a new warhead for the U.S. nuclear stockpile.

Misconceptions about the new START treaty and U.S. missile defenses have been a political hazard for the treaty. While the new treaty will not limit missile defenses, its language may acknowledge a relationship between such defenses and further nuclear reductions. Opponents of President Obama’s arms control agenda have used this language to falsely charge that Russia is demanding that the U.S. must abandon its missile defense plans to move a new START agreement forward. This is a disingenuous argument, but it will be a formidable political hurdle during the ratification process in the U.S. Senate.