Optimists vs Pessimists

By John Liang / November 8, 2010 at 9:13 PM

The U.S. official who headed the negotiations for the follow-on Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty remains doggedly optimistic the pact can be ratified despite Republican gains in the Senate following last week's elections.

"This is the very same treaty that was there on Nov. 1 before the elections," Assistant Secretary of State for Verification, Compliance and Implementation Rose Gottemoeller told attendees of an Arms Control Association forum earlier this afternoon. "It is in the national security interest of the United States after the elections the same way it was before the elections. Swift approval is the right and necessary thing to do."

Gottemoeller emphasized that "now is the time to finish the job. You heard last week President Obama explain, 'This is not a traditionally Democratic or a Republican issue, but rather an issue of American national security.' He noted that passage of the treaty will send a strong signal to Russia that we are serious about reducing nuclear arsenals and a signal to the world that we're serious about nonproliferation."

Gottemoeller's boss also spoke about the treaty today at a separate panel discussion co-sponsored by the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies, the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the U.S. Institute of Peace:

Ellen Tauscher, the under secretary of state for arms control and international security, emphasized that having the Senate ratify the treaty, called New START, before newly elected senators take their seats is imperative because the Democrats still enjoy a substantial majority in the chamber.

Republicans picked up six seats in the Senate last week, though they remain the minority party. To ratify the treaty, two-thirds of the Senate, or 67 senators, must approve it. Russia must also agree to the pact.

In September, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved the treaty by a 14-4 vote. It is awaiting a floor vote.

The New START, signed by President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in April, would allow U.S. inspectors back into Russian nuclear sites, where they have not been since the original START treaty expired last December.

Tauscher said the administration has already answered all possible questions about the deal, noting that since the agreement was signed, there have been more than 25 hearings, and the administration has received nearly 1,000 questions for the record from senators.

"We have a cadre of national security advisers, statesmen, former secretaries of defense, state, that have testified and are supportive of this treaty," Tauscher said. "Virtually a who's who of everybody you can imagine. I can't tell you of anybody of importance and of pedigree that said, 'No, don't ratify this treaty.'"

Last week's elections have made the former chief negotiator of the START I Treaty much more pessimistic about the pact's chances for ratification, however. Amb. Richard Burt, the U.S. Chair of the international Global Zero movement, said at the ACA event this morning that "I think we are rapidly approaching a real crisis in the arms control process" that could "dramatically reverse the good news that happened over the past 18 months."

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