Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Friday sent a letter to President Barack Obama requesting that the White House release the Defense Department’s risk assessment of Russia’s alleged violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty of 1987, Cruz’s office announced yesterday. Cruz accused the White House of “blocking” the release of the Pentagon report and preventing congress from investigating the matter. "Although the State Department formally declared Russia to be in violation of the INF Treaty in 2014, additional reports indicate that the United States has harbored doubts of Russian compliance since 2008 stemming primarily from the R-500 ground-launched cruise missile. But these concerns were not shared with the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in September 2010 before the committee voted on the New START Treaty," Sen. Cruz wrote. "Only in late 2011, long after Congress voted in favor of the New START Treaty, did your Administration conclude that the R-500 was an official compliance concern."
Cruz called for Obama to reply to the letter by Sept. 1, and wrote that the Senate cannot exercise its advice and consent power if the Obama Administration “does not act in good faith,” and added that congress needs the risk assessment report to determine a strategic response to the alleged violation.
The letter also jabs at Secretary of State John Kerry, accusing the then-senator of saying the following in a 2011 or 2012 closed hearing with two top Administration officials: “We’re not going to pass another treaty in the U.S. Senate if our colleagues are sitting up here knowing somebody is cheating.” Undersecretary of State for Arms control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller and then-Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Strategic Affairs Madelyn Creedon attended the hearing Cruz cited, where the interagency colleagues “stated definitively” that Russia had violated the INF Treaty.
During yesterday’s daily State Department press briefing, agency spokesman John Kirby deferred a reporter’s question about Cruz’s letter to DoD. The INF Treaty prohibits the development and use of conventional and nuclear cruise missiles capable of hitting targets between 500 and 5,500 kilometers away.
