The Obama Administration is preparing for a next round of negotiations on nuclear weapons with the Russian Federation. This is likely going to a difficult and unsuccessful endeavor. On Wednesday, The Heritage Foundation hosted the event “After New START: Next Round?” featuring Ambassador Henry Cooper, former director of the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO) in the George H.W. Bush Administration; Mark Schneider, senior analyst with the National Institute for Public Policy; and Heritage’s Baker Spring. This event was a major contribution to the discussion about negative consequences of the Obama …
Twenty years ago, the world watched the Soviet Union fall. The regime that was “planted by bayonets,” as President Ronald Reagan once described it, did not take root, and ultimately the empire that once walled itself off from the West with an Iron Curtain could not shield its people from seeing the shining light of democracy. Next Tuesday, when the Republican presidential candidates come together to discuss foreign policy and national security in a debate presented by The Heritage Foundation and American Enterprise Institute on CNN, they should remember the lessons that the …
The U.S. Minuteman III intercontinental-range ballistic missile (ICBM) force faces an uncertain future, writes Mark Schneider in his recent post on DefenseNews.com. A set of Minuteman failures in the recent years is as concerning as the exponential loss of design and engineering expertise within the Air Force itself. As Schneider warns, no one involved in the original Minuteman design is active in the program, and no one in the Air Force project office has experience in managing the development of a new ICBM. This could cause substantial problems if a …
The Obama Administration’s plan to increase funding for the U.S. nuclear weapons complex has little chance to succeed under the newly negotiated debt ceiling deal. The bill mandates a cut of $44 billion for discretionary budget authority in “security” spending from the President’s FY 2012 requested level. Automatic spending cuts, if triggered, would impose up to an additional $750 billion in spending reductions on defense from FY 2013 through FY 2021. What does it mean for the nuclear weapons complex? There is a little prospect that the Administration will proceed …
The recent statements by Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Rogozin, the Russian President’s Special Representative for Missile Defense Cooperation with NATO, raised hackles in Washington. Putin called the U.S. a “parasite” on the body of global economy, while Rogozin claimed that U.S. Senators told him U.S. missile defense is aimed at his country. Putin’s statements are baffling, as the global economy needs consumer consumption for growth—and the United States is by far the biggest consumer country. In fact, the U.S. trade deficit drives a lot of global growth. Putin spoke at …
On September 22, 2010, a few months before the Senate ratified the New START treaty, a bomb exploded outside the U.S. embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia. New START is, of course, the centerpiece of Barack Obama’s “reset” policy with Russia. Ever since the blast, many have raised questions as to who have would directly attacked the United States. Initially, Georgia’s assertions that Russia was behind the blast were dismissed on both the left and the right as a baseless allegation attempting “to stoke anti-Russian sentiment in the U.S.” However, The Washington …
Is President Barack Obama sowing the seeds of mistrust in Washington by playing “fast and loose with the truth in pursuit of political ends”? Heritage’s James Carafano writes that revelations about the President’s signature New START Treaty certainly make it look that way. Under the treaty, Russia will be permitted to build a dozen more nuclear weapons if they so choose — and Russian officials have said they plan to build more launchers. The United States, though, must cut weapons and platforms, including a quarter of its launchers. And that’s contrary to …
“The Obama administration continues to demonstrate its penchant for bargaining away missile defense,” write James Woolsey, chairman of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a former director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, and Rebeccah Heinrichs, an adjunct fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a former manager of the Congressional Missile Defense Caucus, in their most recent op-ed. This is indeed the case, as shown by negotiations over New START and other Administration steps pertaining to missile defense. New START’s preamble links strategic offensive and defensive …
New START, a strategic arms control treaty with the Russian Federation that entered into force in February, is disadvantageous for the United States and advantageous for Russia. The treaty actually allows the Russians to build up their nuclear strategic forces. This raises the question: What did the U.S. negotiators actually achieve for the advancement of the U.S. national security? According to the factsheet released on June 1, by the State Department’s Bureau of Verification, Compliance, and Implementation, the U.S. will have to remove 182 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarine-launched ballistic …
At the end of December, the Senate ratified the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) Treaty by a vote of 71-26. Many Senators who voiced concerns regarding the treaty’s provisions and implications were persuaded to vote for it after receiving assurances from the Obama Administration that our nuclear weapons would receive much needed modernization. Although I trust these promises were made in good faith, we must ensure they will be kept through the passage of binding legislation. On May 5th, with the support of House Armed Services Chairman (HASC) …
