March 17, 2014

EXPERTS: WORK ON OTHER U.S., RUSSIAN ISSUES COULD LEAD TO NUKE CUTS

By ExchangeMonitor

The United States and Russia should focus less on nuclear warhead reduction targets and more on other areas to build the relationship between the two countries, a former Bush Administration arms control and nonproliferation expert said yesterday. Speaking at the Brookings Institution, former National Nuclear Security Administration nonproliferation chief William Tobey suggested that working on other areas of interest between the two countries, like nuclear terrorism or economic fields, could eventually smooth the way for future reductions. “Focus on the enduring interests between the U.S. and Russia and change that, and once that there is a recognition those interests are largely compatible, the numbers problem becomes easier to resolve,” Tobey said. He is one of the authors of “Transcending Mutual Deterrence in the U.S.-Russian Relationship,” a report by Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and the Institute for U.S. and Canadian Studies that was released yesterday.

While the Obama Administration is pushing for another round of nuclear reduction talks with Russia, most experts don’t expect those talks to gain much traction due to Russian opposition. “The Russians are really not interested in further reductions unless their concerns about missile defense are addressed,” said Gary Samore, the former White House coordinator for weapons of mass destruction, nonproliferation and counterterrorism now at Brookings and Harvard’s Belfer Center. The U.S. is unlikely to agree to missile defense limits with Russia because of political opposition from Republicans, Samore noted. “In the absence of that kind of assurance they feel more reductions would make them further vulnerable,” Samore said. “Under those circumstances I don’t see any near-term prospects.”

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