Treaty Makes America More Secure, Has Broad Support, and Is Urgently Needed

The New START Treaty Makes America More Secure. Significantly reducing – by nearly
700 – the limit on the number of strategic nuclear weapons that Russia can deploy;
allowing us to keep a close eye on the remaining ones; building stability, predictability,
and transparency for the two countries with 90 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons;
and strengthening America’s fight against nuclear weapons falling into the hands of
terrorists and rogue states.

Urgently Needed. Secretary of Defense Gates has said, “Since the expiration of the old
START Treaty in December 2009, the U.S. has had none of these [verification]
safeguards,” including no U.S. inspectors on the ground in Russia keeping a watchful
eye on Russia’s weapons. General Chilton, Commander of STRATCOM, stressed to
Congress, “Without New START, we would rapidly lose insight into Russian strategic
nuclear force developments and activities.”

Key Questions Have Been Answered.

.. Preserves America’s Triad of land-based and sea-based missiles and bombers
and the military’s flexibility to take on any future new threats

.. No constraints on deploying the most effective missile defenses possible nor on
developing and deploying conventional prompt global strike capabilities

.. Effective verification and inspection systems leaving Russia unable to achieve
militarily significant cheating or breakout

.. More than $80 billion over the next ten years – including $10 billion in new money
– to modernize our nuclear weapons complex

Wide Bipartisan Support. America’s most respected national security leaders, including
secretaries of defense and state, and national security advisers for Presidents Reagan,
George H.W. Bush, Clinton, and George W. Bush, support ratification – including George
Shultz, James Baker, Sam Nunn, James Schlesinger, Bill Perry, Chuck Hagel, Henry
Kissinger, Colin Powell, Thomas Kean, Lee Hamilton, Harold Brown, Madeleine Albright,
Howard Baker, Frank Carlucci, Kenneth Duberstein, Brent Scowcroft, and Stephen
Hadley.

Unanimous Support by Military Leadership. All senior Defense Department officials
testified that they support ratification of New START. Secretary Gates stressed: “The
New START Treaty has the unanimous support of America’s military leadership – to
include the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, all of the service chiefs, and the
commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, the organization responsible for our
strategic nuclear deterrent”. Seven former commanders of Strategic Command
support the Treaty, assessing it “will enhance American national security in several
important ways.”

Prepared and Ready. The Senate has been provided extensive information – 18
hearings, dozens of briefings and meetings, answers to over 900 questions for the
record, and hundreds of pages of reports, analysis and testimony.