START The Chorus

Fifteen retired generals and admirals are adding their voices to the chorus calling for swift ratification of the follow-on Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. In a letter to the Senate released today via the Truman National Security Project, the retired senior officers write:

Russia and the United States possess more than 90 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons. Yet, due to the START Treaty’s expiration in December 2009, for the first time in 15 years no American is monitoring Russia’s deployed nuclear arsenal and ensuring that those weapons are well-guarded and properly secured. Ensuring American security means passing the treaty needed to put U.S. boots back on the ground. The ratification of the New START Treaty—which would reestablish a tough system for U.S. oversight of Russian strategic nuclear weapons first proposed by President Reagan—is imperative to our national security.

The New START Treaty will empower the United States to confront the threats of today and tomorrow. We cannot afford reckless political delay.

The New START Treaty will allow us to monitor deployed Russian strategic nuclear weapons while maintaining our capabilities and continuing to develop missile defense technology. Without the intelligence provided by START’s inspections program, we leave ourselves blind to possible increases in Russian deployed strategic nuclear weapons, and more open to the threat of terrorists acquiring nuclear material.

Leaders from both sides of the aisle have joined our military and national security leaders in underscoring the serious threat posed by continued delay. The swift ratification of the New START Treaty has the unanimous support of America’s military leadership, including the Secretary of Defense, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, all of the service chiefs, and the commander of the U.S. Strategic Command. We, as senior retired military leaders, stand with them.

We call on the Senate to carefully weigh the wisdom and advice of our senior defense leaders, both civilian and military, as well as a knowledgeable, broad, and bipartisan array of national security experts. The Senate must move decisively to ratify the New START treaty before the end of 2010. For the sake of America’s global leadership role and future security, we cannot afford to delay.

Lieutenant General John Castellaw, USMC (Ret.)

Lieutenant General Donald Kerrick, US Army (Ret.)

Vice Admiral Dennis V. McGinn, US Navy (Ret.)

Lieutenant General Norman Seip, USAF (Ret.)

Major General Roger Blunt, US Army (Ret.)

Major General George Buskirk, US Army (Ret.)

Major General Donald Edwards, US Army (Ret.)

Major General Paul Monroe, US Army (Ret.)

Rear Admiral Stuart Platt, US Navy (Ret.)

Rear Admiral Alan Steinman, USCG/USPHS (Ret.)

Brigadier General John Adams, US Army (Ret.)

Brigadier General Steven Anderson, US Army (Ret.)

Brigadier General Stephen Cheney, USMC (Ret.)

Brigadier General Keith Kerr, CSMR (Ret.)

Brigadier General Phil Leventis, USAF (Ret.)