Signed by Presidents Obama and Medvedev on April 8, 2010, New START replaces the 1991 START treaty limiting U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear weapon systems. The agreement introduces lower ceilings for the numbers of deployed warheads and delivery systems, and continues many of the necessary verification procedures. New START entered into force on February 5, 2011.
Treaty text (U.S. State Department)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen are scheduled to meet on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly session in New York this week to discuss a range of NATO-Russian security issues. Missile defense is expected to dominate the agenda, and the prospects for breakthrough appear dim.
BASIC will hold the second of its bipartisan “strategic dialogues” on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, this time on “Making sense of the nuclear posture”. This week’s event is timely because President Barack Obama has recently concluded his oversight of the nuclear guidance, two years after his Administration's formal nuclear posture review.
Knives are out in the initial skirmishes over the fiscal 2013 funding for the nuclear weapons complex in the U.S., as a key appropriations committee meets this week.
This Thursday is three years since President Obama delivered his Prague speech, bringing nuclear non-proliferation back on the agenda with his vision of a world free of nuclear weapons.
Today will be Ellen Tauscher’s final day as the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, and Rose Gottemoeller is expected to be named as her successor for the time being. As the Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance, Gottemoeller negotiated New START for the US and this weekend marked the one year anniversary of its entry into force.
BASIC recently wrapped up a series of events in Cairo, including a joint press workshop with the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization and an off-the-record seminar on the politics of regional nuclear proliferation.
Thursday of this week marks the first anniversary of the U.S. Senate’s vote in favor of ratifying the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which established verifiable limits on Russian and U.S. strategic nuclear weapons.