Robert Monroe: Why the Senate Should Block 'New Start'
[Mr. Monroe, a retired vice admiral in the U.S. Navy, was director of the Defense Nuclear Agency from 1977-1980.]
After returning from recess on Sept. 6, the Senate will consider whether to ratify New Start, the nuclear weapons treaty that President Barack Obama signed with his Russian counterpart in April. The treaty has many problems, from being unverifiable to giving Russia virtual veto power over U.S. missile defense, and more. But the Senate should block it for another more important reason: It is the first major step in the implementation of Mr. Obama's broader nuclear strategy. This strategy would gravely weaken American national security.
The Obama administration's nuclear policy is set out in the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), which was released in April, two days before the signing of New Start. The NPR is joined at the hip with New Start, and together they take this country down a dangerous path. For 65 years, the very existence of our nation has depended upon a strong nuclear deterrent. The new NPR wipes out this proven policy, substituting one of weakness in its place.
Mr. Obama's NPR treats nuclear weapons as an evil to be eliminated, rather than as the ultimate foundation of America's security in a dangerous world. The review opens with Mr. Obama's pledge to "seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons" and "to take concrete steps toward that goal, including by reducing the number of nuclear weapons and their role in national security policy."
Yet nuclear weapons have been our most effective means of avoiding and limiting conflicts, and of achieving our foreign policy goals, since World War II...
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After returning from recess on Sept. 6, the Senate will consider whether to ratify New Start, the nuclear weapons treaty that President Barack Obama signed with his Russian counterpart in April. The treaty has many problems, from being unverifiable to giving Russia virtual veto power over U.S. missile defense, and more. But the Senate should block it for another more important reason: It is the first major step in the implementation of Mr. Obama's broader nuclear strategy. This strategy would gravely weaken American national security.
The Obama administration's nuclear policy is set out in the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), which was released in April, two days before the signing of New Start. The NPR is joined at the hip with New Start, and together they take this country down a dangerous path. For 65 years, the very existence of our nation has depended upon a strong nuclear deterrent. The new NPR wipes out this proven policy, substituting one of weakness in its place.
Mr. Obama's NPR treats nuclear weapons as an evil to be eliminated, rather than as the ultimate foundation of America's security in a dangerous world. The review opens with Mr. Obama's pledge to "seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons" and "to take concrete steps toward that goal, including by reducing the number of nuclear weapons and their role in national security policy."
Yet nuclear weapons have been our most effective means of avoiding and limiting conflicts, and of achieving our foreign policy goals, since World War II...