The House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee is calling for the Defense Department to develop a ground-launched cruise missile within the range covered by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, while conditioning further arms control with Russia on resolution of INF violation issues.
The subcommittee on Thursday held its markup of the fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, where it considered several amendments, adopted an “en bloc” package, and approved a markup that now goes to the full committee for consideration.
The INF Treaty prohibits Russia and the United States from fielding ground-based cruise and ballistic missiles with flight ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers. U.S. officials determined earlier this year that Russia has deployed such a missile, in material breach of the accord.
The subcommittee mark would require establishment of a U.S. program of record to develop a “road-mobile ground-launched cruise missile system” within that range. The Pentagon would also be required to report to Congress within 120 days on the feasibility of modifying existing and planned ground-launched systems in that same range.
The mark would require the president to report to Congress on whether Russia is violating the INF Treaty within the year following enactment of the legislation; if the president determines Russia is noncompliant, the United States would no longer be bound by INF provisions.
Jon Wolfsthal, former senior director for arms control and nonproliferation in the Obama administration’s National Security Council, said on Twitter that U.S. development of its own ground-launched cruise missile is “[m]ilitarily unneeded, legally questionable, really expensive but makes Russia’s job a lot easier. Not a great idea.”
Steven Pifer, director of the Brookings Institution’s Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Initiative, also responded via Twitter: “What’s [the] point other than have US violate INF Treaty? Better, faster, cheaper ways to respond to #Russia violation: JASSMs, JASSM-ERs & SLCMs.”
The subcommittee’s proposal would also prohibit funding in fiscal 2018 for the Defense Department to “extend the implementation” of the bilateral New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, the agreement that caps both countries’ long-range nuclear arsenals, unless the president certifies Russia “has verifiably eliminated all missiles that are in violation of or may be inconsistent with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.”
This echoes the concerns of many in Washington who consider the future of bilateral arms control largely contingent upon resolution of the INF issue. Failure to achieve that, then, could jeopardize not only New START but potential follow-on agreements as well.
However, subcommittee Ranking Member Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) introduced an amendment Thursday that would strike this section out of the subcommittee mark, arguing that New START should not be used as a way to punish the Russians for their INF breach.
He called the proposal to do so “completely illogical” and said the effort to link the two would be “shooting ourselves in the foot,” as New START is often lauded for providing the United States greater transparency into Russian nuclear forces.
Still, the subcommittee rejected the amendment after some discussion, ultimately maintaining the language that panel Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) called in his opening remarks a “set of actions to send Russia a message: your violations of this treaty are going to cost you and you will not be permitted to obtain a military advantage from this lawless behavior.”
Moreover, the administration would be required to evaluate Russia’s RS-26 intercontinental ballistic missile to determine whether it is covered under New START or would be considered an INF Treaty violation “because Russia has conducted flight tests to ranges prohibited by the INF Treaty in more than one warhead configuration.”
The State Department’s 2016 arms control compliance report said the violating system it previously identified is not the RS-26. If the president determines the RS-26 is covered under New START but Russia does not agree to limit it under that accord, the United States would consider it in violation of the INF Treaty, according to the subcommittee mark. This report would also determine whether Russia has agreed to limit the system under New START, in which case it would be required to exhibit the system to the United States to demonstrate its features.
Amendments adopted Thursday as part of the en bloc package included a measure directing the Nuclear Weapons Council to brief HASC by next February on the National Nuclear Security Administration’s “3+2” warhead consolidation strategy and its Interoperable Warhead 1 – specifically costs, benefits, and risks of that strategy.
Another amendment in that package directs the defense secretary to report to the committee by next March on cost estimates and requirements related to the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent, the ICBM that will replace the aging Minuteman III.
The full HASC will meet June 28 to mark up the NDAA. The Senate Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee will mark up its version of the bill next Tuesday in a closed session, followed by a full committee markup Wednesday and Thursday, again in closed sessions.
