Publisher's Synopsis
The United States and Russia signed the New START Treaty on April 8, 2010. After more than 20hearings, the U.S. Senate gave its advice and consent to ratification on December 22, 2010, by avote of 71-26. Both houses of the Russian parliament-the Duma and Federation Council-approved the treaty in late January 2011 and it entered into force on February 5, 2011. Bothparties met the treaty's requirement to complete the reductions by February 5, 2018. The treaty isdue to expire in February 2021, unless both parties agree to extend it for no more than five yearsNew START does not limit current or planned U.S. missile defense programs. It does ban theconversion of ICBM and SLBM launchers to launchers for missile defense interceptors, but theUnited States never intended to pursue such conversions when deploying missile defenseinterceptors. Under New START, the United States can deploy conventional warheads on itsballistic missiles, but these will count under the treaty limit on nuclear warheads.The Obama Administration and outside analysts argued that New START strengthens strategicstability and enhances U.S. national security. Critics, however, questioned whether the treatywould serve U.S. national security interests because, they argued in 2010, Russia was likely toreduce its forces with or without an arms control agreement and because the United States andRussia no longer need arms control treaties to manage their relationship. The 2018 NuclearPosture Review confirmed that the United States would continue to implement the treaty, at leastthrough 2021. The Trump Administration has raised questions about the value of the treaty and, although it has not announced a decision about extension, has suggested that the United Statesmight allow it to lapse while negotiating a new treaty that would include Russia and China, andcapture all types of Russian nuclear weapons
