Ten Republican Senators are asking the State Department’s Inspector General to investigate how much then-Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance Rose Gottemoeller was aware of possible Russian violations of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty during the ratification process of the New START Treaty. In a May 23 letter, the Senators asked State Department IG Steve Linick for an interim briefing on the IG’s findings by Sept. 30. Gottemoeller is now the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. “We are concerned that the then-Assistant Secretary was either not aware of such compliance concerns or chose not to present this information to the U.S. Senate,” Sens. Jim Risch (Idaho), John Cornyn (Texas), Marco Rubio (Fla.), Ron Johnson (Wisc.), John Barasso (Wyo.), Deb Fischer (Neb.), Jerry Moran (Kan.), Jim Inhofe (Okla.), David Vitter (La.), and Mike Lee (Utah) wrote in a May 23 letter to State Department IG Steve Linick.
The Senators also said they were concerned that the potential violations had not been included in any of the State Department’s annual compliance reports, urging the IG to find out “whether the Assistant Secretary or any of the AVC bureau’s staff were aware of the compliance concerns regarding the INF Treaty during the preparation and submission of the [July 2010 compliance report] as well as during the process of the U.S. Senate’s consideration of the New START Treaty that was ratified on December 22, 2010.” Russia is believed to have tested a land-based cruise missile in violation of the INF Treaty, and the U.S. has said it has concerns and has discussed the matter with Moscow, but has stopped short of flatly accusing Russia of cheating on the treaty.