STATEMENT: Women’s Action for New Directions Publishes Paper Calling to Save New START

Washington, D.C.: On May 12th, Women’s Action for New Directions released Mutually Assured Dividends: The Case for New START Extension, a paper examining the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) and calling for its extension to 2026. The paper argues that New START is critical to reducing nuclear weapons stockpiles and increasing transparency between the U.S. and Russia, the world’s two largest nuclear powers. The paper then examines the consequences of a New START expiration on U.S. national security, U.S.-Russia relations, and ally security.

WAND’s executive Director, Nancy Parrish, released the following statement on the paper’s release:

“Extending the existing New START treaty is critical. For decades, nuclear treaties between Russia and the U.S. have built trust between our nations by increasing transparency and lowered the threat of nuclear war by reducing the number of weapons we each have. Allowing the existing New START treaty to lapse would surely lead us down the path to a new Cold War.

“Especially in these uncertain times, the last thing the U.S. needs to do is increase the risk to our national security or create unnecessary costs by suddenly growing—rather than reducing—the number of nuclear weapons we have. Beyond our own borders, we risk relationships with our European allies and the global stability that we have worked so hard to build.

“As we face the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic and the havoc that it is inflicting, we need to do everything in our power to preserve the tried and true foundations that have kept us safe from a nuclear arms race with Russia for decades. WAND wholeheartedly recommends that the Administration take swift and decisive action to ensure the security of the United States and preserve a peaceful world order.”