New START Debate Spotlights Strategic Posture Commission Guidance
With the U.S. Senate’s ratification of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), the United States and Russia now await the Russian parliament’s likely ratification to make important reductions in their strategic nuclear arsenals. Throughout debate, senators on both sides of the aisle cited the findings and recommendations of the 2009 Strategic Posture Commission, chaired by former secretaries of defense William Perry and James Schlesinger.
With the U.S. Senate’s ratification of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), the United States and Russia now await the Russian parliament’s likely ratification to make important reductions in their strategic nuclear arsenals.
Throughout debate, senators on both sides of the aisle cited the findings and recommendations of the 2009 Strategic Posture Commission, chaired by former secretaries of defense William Perry and James Schlesinger. The Commission recommended that following a “modest and straightforward” first step with Russia, the United States should “begin to characterize and study the numerous challenges that would come with any further reductions.” Such challenges include the imbalance of non-strategic nuclear weapons in the U.S. and Russian arsenals, the impact of missile defense on future negotiations, and engagement in strategic dialogue with a broad set of states on issues of strategic stability. These and other issues are considered in more detail in the Commission’s final report and compendium volume, In the Eyes of the Experts.
The Institute, through its mandate as a forum for expert discussion and a platform for public education on these and other issues, offers three courses that cover strategic arms control and nonproliferation issues through the Academy for International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding. Additionally, the Institute has collaborated with other organizations on a variety of arms control and nonproliferation issues.
Explore Further
- Congressional Testimony: Stephen J. Hadley on the new START Treaty
- Read a discussion about the New START Agreement with Rose Gottemoeller, assistant secretary of State for Verification, Compliance and Implementation
- On the Issues: the New START with former Jennings Randolph Senior Visiting Scholar, Jayantha Dhanapala
- Learn more about USIP's work on WMD, Nonproliferation, and Arms Control
