In this article, former NNSA Administrator Lt. General Frank Klotz (USAF, Ret.) reflects on the announcement that the US will withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty and assesses the fate of the New START treaty. NSWG member Gen. Klotz argues that this treaty serves U.S. national security and intelligence interests and should be extended before it expires in three years. He notes that “a generation of senior military leaders, schooled early in their careers in the classic texts of nuclear deterrence theory, have consistently cited, in their public statements and in their congressional testimony, the benefits that arms control agreements confer. Foremost among these beliefs is the strongly held view that the transparency and verification measures in the more recent nuclear arms control agreements provide insight into the size, capabilities, and operations of the other side’s nuclear forces beyond that provided by more traditional intelligence collection and assessment methods.”
Gen. Klotz concludes by recommending the extension of New START for an additional five years before it expires in 2021, or that some sort of replacement be negotiated before then. The full Arms Control Today article can be found here.
