Brian Bradley
NS&D Monitor
6/12/2015
House lawmakers voted this week against an amendment offered to the Fiscal Year 2016 defense appropriations bill that would have moved $25 million from an Air Force procurement account to the defense-wide research and development account to bolster U.S. military response options to respond to Russia’s alleged violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. The amendment was offered by Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.), and was aimed at addressing “capability gaps for military response to Russia’s INF Treaty violation,” according to a summary of June 10 House floor proceedings.
Defense Hawks Zero in on Russia
The vote did not align with tough sentiments recently expressed by GOP defense hawks after the State Department on June 5 released its annual arms control report classifying Russia as remaining in violation with the INF Treaty. The United States has accused Russia of violating the treaty by developing a cruise missile capable of hitting ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometers. Russia has denied the allegation.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) said this week that deploying U.S. intermediate-range cruise missiles in the United Kingdom should be considered if Russia continues to violate the agreement. “I think it is definitely an option which should be considered, and there are probably others,” he told reporters. Thornberry added that the United States is “not doing very much” to address the violation, and that how the United States responds could have bearing on future treaties. “We’ve sent them nasty notes and talked bad about them,” he said. “It’s time to do something more than that because, obviously that hasn’t worked. …They continued to be in violation, and nothing we’ve done has changed that, so I think it is time to look at other options that are real, concrete and proportional to Russia intentionally violating this treaty, and that is certainly one of the options.”
U.S. Raised Compliance Concerns to Russia in 2013
The State Department raised its compliance concerns to Russia in 2013 and 2014 on “repeated occasions,” and plans to “continue to pursue resolution” of the concerns, according to the 2015 arms control report. For now, the United States plans to address the alleged violations by continuing diplomatic engagements with Russia in an effort to persuade the country to return to treaty compliance. “The United States noted concerns about the Russian Federation’s compliance with the INF Treaty in earlier, classified versions of the Compliance Report,” the 2015 report states. “In the 2014 Report, the United States published its determination that the Russian Federation was in violation of its obligations under the INF Treaty not to possess, produce, or flight-test a ground-launched cruise missile (GLCM) with a range capability of 500 km to 5,500 km, or to possess or produce launchers of such missiles.”
Rubio Submits INF-Related Amendment during Senate NDAA Debate
Bridenstine wasn’t the only national lawmaker this week who submitted an amendment that proposed using funds to counteract Russia’s reported violation. During Senate floor debate on the FY 2016 National Defense Authorization Act earlier this week, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) submitted an amendment that would prevent providing funds to Russia to help its nonproliferation efforts until the President certifies to Congressional committees that Russia is in compliance with the INF Treaty, the New START Treaty, the Presidential Nuclear Initiatives and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. The Energy Secretary would be able to waive the prohibition if he finds that providing such funding to Russia would help advance U.S. national security interests and if he/she provides a justification to Congressional committees. The Senate has not yet considered Rubio’s amendment.
