The New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty)

The New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty)

BREAKING NEWS!

Thursday, September 16th: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted to send the New START Treaty to the Senate floor for a full vote on ratification.  Special thanks for Republican Senators Lugar, Corker, and Isakson (IN, TN, GA) for taking a bi partisan stand for a safe and secure world! Now it is time to make sure that during the full vote the New START Treaty receives all the votes it needs. Contact your Senators now and make sure they know you expect a YES vote on New START!

A historic day...
The New START was signed on April 8, 2010 in Prague, Czech Republic. The signing by U.S. President Obama and Russian President Medvedev followed a year of extensive negotiations.

The new treaty limits the U.S. and Russia to no more than 1,550 deployed strategic warheads and 800 deployed and non-deployed delivery vehicles. The treaty also includes a streamlined and updated system of verification provisions to ensure each side that the other is complying with the treaty stipulations.

History of the New START Treaty

The 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty was a bilateral treaty between the United States and Union of Soviet Socialist Replublics on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms. The treaty was signed on the 31st of July in 1991 and entered into force on December 5, 1994.

START I negotiated the largest and most complex arms control treaty in history. START codified the end of Cold War nuclear competition and reduced immediate dangers associated with excess nuclear weapons arsenals.
The treaty expired on December 5, 2009.
What Does It Mean?

The New START will reduce U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons surplus and ensure a more stable nuclear relationship. The new agreement limits deployed strategic missiles and bombers as well as deployed warheads. The verification system allows the U.S. to look into Russian missiles and count actual numbers of warheads. The compliance and verification system protect against misunderstandings and worst case scenarios.

The New START will strengthen efforts to reduce the threat of nuclear terrorism. The U.S. and Russia possess approximately 95% of the entire world arsenal. A reduction in the bulk of the world’s nuclear weapons lessens the threat of nuclear weapons falling into the hands of terrorists.

The New START will strengthen efforts throughout the world to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. The treaty sends a strong message the U.S plans to play an integral role in upholding its obligation to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT).

The New START will improve U.S. and Russian relations and helps to set the stage for discussions about further nuclear arms reductions. The formal process will make it easier for the U.S. to pursue other objectives that require
Russia’s assistance, including reigning in Iran’s nuclear program.

What's Next?

The next step in this process is the ratification of New START in the U.S. Senate.

• The Senate will be in session for four remaining weeks, September 13 through October 8, before the elections. Whether we get a floor vote before the Senate adjourns for the elections will depend in part on the vote margin in the Foreign Relations Committee and on the willingness of Minority Leader McConnell to allow the treaty to come up.
• The Senate will return on November 15 for a lame-duck session. We will not know until after the elections whether major legislation will be considered during the lame duck.
• For a floor vote, the decided senators are Alexander (TN), Bond (MO), Brown (MA), Brownback (KS), Chambliss (GA), Coburn (OK), Cochran (MS), Collins (ME), Cornyn (TX), Crapo (ID), Enzi (WY), Graham (SC), Grassley (IA), Gregg (NH), Hatch (UT), Hutchison (TX), Johanns (NE), LeMieux (FL), McCain (AZ), McConnell (KY), Murkowski (AK), Roberts (KS), Snowe (ME), Thune (SD), and Voinovich (OH).

Links for further reading:

New START Fact Sheet (PDF) provided by WAND
Recent article in Foreign Policy directed to Senator Lugar