President Donald Trump on Thursday faced a fresh round of criticism from Democratic lawmakers and arms control advocates following a report that he had decried the New START nuclear accord during his first phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Citing several sources, Reuters reported that Trump during the Jan. 28 call had to ask an aide what the treaty involved when Putin raised the issue of a possible extension, then described it as being among several unfair U.S.-Russian deals sealed during the Obama administration.
New START, signed by then-President Barack Obama and then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in 2010, requires the two nations by next February to deploy no more than 1,550 strategic nuclear warheads on 800 delivery systems. It also sets up a program of on-site inspections and data exchanges intended to increase transparency about each country’s nuclear arsenal.
“It’s impossible to overstate the negligence of the President of the United States not knowing basic facts about nuclear policy and arms control,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) said in a prepared statement. “If this report is true, President Trump should immediately review the provisions of the New START Treaty with his advisors and Cabinet.”
Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) issued similarly pointed statements, in line with ongoing criticisms from Democrats and a few Republicans of the young Trump administration. In response to the news report, White House spokesman Sean Spicer denied Thursday that Trump was not aware of the treaty, but instead had asked staff for an opinion on the matter when it came up in conversation with Putin, according to Reuters.
Shaheen noted that Trump’s comments, if true, would contradict statements made by newly confirmed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during his Jan. 11 nomination hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In testimony, Tillerson expressed his backing for “the long-standing bipartisan policy of engaging with Russia and other nuclear arms states to verifiably reduce nuclear stockpiles.” He added that the United States must continue to engage with Moscow to “hold them accountable to commitments made under the New START.”
Arms control proponents on Thursday noted that New START had significant support across the political and defense spectrum, starting with the 13 Republican senators who voted in 2010 to ratify the treaty. Defenders include former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and other Cabinet members of GOP presidential administrations, as well as former President George H.W. Bush, according to the Global Zero nuclear disarmament campaign. Seven retired commanders of U.S. Strategic Air Command and Strategic Command sent a letter to the Senate in favor of the treaty prior to the ratification vote, Sanders noted.
“Military men understand the value to our national security (and defense budget) of seeking limits on nuclear weapons,” Thomas Countryman, who was directed to resign last month as acting undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, said Thursday on Twitter.
Even its supporters acknowledge that New START, as a compromise agreement, is imperfect. Critics have charged that its flaws were numerous – numbering at least 12, according to Heritage Foundation national security expert Baker Spring – including giving Russia more space to modernize and strengthen a massive but deteriorating nuclear deterrent. Obama was also never able to persuade Russia to engage in additional nuclear arms talks after Putin in 2012 regained the presidency he had ceded to Medvedev.
Trump has previously appeared to be critical of New START, saying in an October debate with Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton that “They create warheads, and we can’t.”
The treaty does not prevent either country from developing new nuclear weapons. The United States has initiated what is expected to be a $1 trillion program over 30 years to replace its existing nuclear ICBMs, ballistic missile submarines, and strategic bombers.
The Trump administration will have a crucial role in determining the future of New START. It could choose to withdraw from the treaty, though there has been no indication to date that such a move is being considered. But Trump would also decide whether to sign off on the five-year extension of the treaty that would begin in 2021 – keeping the two nations at the mandatory warhead and delivery system limits to 2026.
“It would be a tragic mistake if we failed to take advantage of Russia’s offer to extend the treaty,”former Defense Secretary William Perry told Politico.
Trump, in public comments, has emphasized U.S. nuclear might over reductions. In a pre-Christmas tweet, he said the “United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.” One day later, he reportedly said the United States would win any potential nuclear arms race.
The president, though, has largely had good things to say about Putin and the potential for improved relations with Russia – to the alarm of a number of Republicans on Capitol Hill. Just before his inauguration, he told the London Times newspaper that he might offer sanctions relief to Moscow in return for fresh nuclear arms cuts.
