ARMS CONTROL EXPERT URGES ACCELERATED NEW START REDUCTIONS

Stymied by the Russians on another round of arms control talks, the Obama Administration should accelerate reductions called for in the New START Treaty and push for ratification of the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty to help keep up the momentum for his nuclear security agenda, an arms control expert with the Brookings Institution said late last week. In a memo that is part of Brookings’ “Big Bets and Black Swans” series of policy recommendations for the President, Steven Pifer acknowledged that Russia has signaled no interest in pursuing further reductions beyond New START. But he suggested moving faster on implementing New START cuts to 1,550 deployed warheads would be a sound move that Obama could make. “The Russians are already below the [New START limit], and we do not need until the 2018 deadline to reach it,” he wrote. “Warheads can be removed from ballistic missiles relatively quickly and at little cost, though at no real financial savings. Such an acceleration would underscore your policy of reducing the number and role of nuclear weapons in U.S. security policy. Should Moscow continue to refuse to engage, you may wish to consider whether to implement other changes to the U.S. nuclear force structure without regard to Russian actions, but that is a question for the end of 2014 or 2015.”