Congressman Mike Rogers released a letter raising concerns that Russia may be in violation of the new START Treaty. Rogers is the Chairman of the powerful House Armed Services Committee.
The letter was made jointly with Rep. Michael McCaul, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Mike Turner, the Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. The three chairmen addressed the letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines. They expressed their concerns that Russia has failed to uphold key tenets of the New START Treaty.
“Russia’s unilateral cancellation of the BCC and refusal to restart New START inspections, another key tenet of the treaty, coupled with other statements by its government officials, at a minimum, raise serious compliance concerns regarding the Federation’s adherence to the New START Treaty,” Rogers and the other Republican Chairmen wrote. “This would occur during a uniquely dangerous time when both Russia and China are expanding and modernizing their arsenals, Iran, a state sponsor of terror, continues to expand its nuclear program, and North Korea rattles its nuclear saber.”
“We are writing to you today to express our concerns regarding the Russian Federation’s compliance with the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) and the danger its potential non-compliance poses to the future of arms control,” the members wrote. “President Biden gifted Vladimir Putin a clean, five-year extension to New START at the beginning of his administration despite concerns about the treaty, including the weakness of its verification regime and its failure to address Russia’s overwhelming advantage in nonstrategic nuclear weapons. Subsequently ignoring noncompliance, specifically in the context of Russia’s history of violating arms control commitments, would further undermine its own credibility in arms control.”
The Congressmen requested that the administration provide a special out-of-cycle determination on compliance by the Russian Federation to the terms of New START that addresses the following:
“• Whether Russia’s unilateral cancelation of the BCC, refusal to restart treaty-mandated inspections, or any other issue has resulted in Russian non-compliance or material breach of the Treaty.
• Whether Russia has at any point since 2020 exceeded any New START caps and if those violations create a strategic imbalance endangering U.S. national security.
• Whether Russia has, over the course of the treaty, used technical compliance as a pretense to violate the spirit of the treaty.
• An assessment of the efficacy New START verification regime, to include the BCC and onsite inspections, given Russia’s recent statements and actions.”
The START Treaty (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) limits the number of weapons of mass destruction that the United States and the Russian Federation can deploy.
The new START Treaty limits the United States to just 659 deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles, deployed submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and deployed heavy bombers (the B52, B1, B2, and the new B21). Russia is limited to just 540.
Since each launch system is able to launch multiple warheads on their deployed ICBMs, SLBMs, and heavy bombers, START also limits the number of nuclear warheads the superpowers can have. START limits the U.S. to just 1420 warheads, while Russia can have 1549.
The treaty also strictly limits the number of missile launchers, ballistic missile submarines, and heavy bombers the two nations can have – both deployed and non-deployed. The U.S. is limited to only 800, while Russia is limited to only 759 total.
If the two nations break out of the new START Treaty, that could potentially lead to a renewed arms race. There is already an arms race between the U.S., Russia, and China over who can be the first to develop and deploy hypersonic missiles. Hypersonics travel much faster than ICBMs or SLBMs, much fast than any nation’s known existing anti-missile or surface-to-air missile defense systems can operate at, and do not need to have a nuclear warhead to do devastating damage to a military, industrial, or population center target.
On Thursday, the United States reversed its policy and agreed to supply Ukraine with new M1 Abrams tanks for its war with Russia. Ukraine has thanked the U.S. for the main battle tanks and is now asking for F16 fighter bombers.
Mike Rogers was made Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee earlier this month. He is in his eleventh term representing the people of Alabama’s Third Congressional District.
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