START Support Grows

Mar 30, 2010

Sen. Richard Lugar (IN)

"I commend the U.S. and Russian delegations for months of dedicated effort. I look forward to the President's submission of the new treaty, its protocols, annexes and all associated documents to the Senate for advice and consent to ratification. I also look forward to working with Chairman Kerry to begin scheduling hearings and briefings for the Foreign Relations Committee so that we can work quickly to achieve ratification of the new treaty."

March 26, 2010 Press Release

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair John Kerry (MA)

"The new agreement is the result of a year of hard-nosed negotiations. Even when the old treaty expired last December and some warned that immediate action was required, American negotiators were patient and fought to guarantee that no provisions would weaken our national security or restrain our ability to defend ourselves. The result will be significant reductions in the nuclear warheads and strategic delivery systems of both the United States and Russia, and a verification regime that insures Russia will keep its pledges. It builds on President Ronald Reagan’s maxim: ‘trust, but verify.'"

March 28, 2010 Boston Globe op-ed


Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Carl Levin (MI)

"This is welcome and much anticipated news. Signing the new treaty will resume the long stalled process to verifiably reduce the number of nuclear weapons in the Russian and US inventories. I look forward to reviewing the new treaty when the text is available. After this treaty is submitted to the Senate, the Armed Services Committee will hold hearings on the national security aspects of the treaty and how it will be implemented. I congratulate both presidents for carrying through on their commitment to arms control."

March 26, 2010 Press Release

Sen. Bob Casey (PA)

"I applaud the administration’s efforts to complete the follow-on START agreement and I look forward to examining its contents upon presentation to the Senate. This agreement is an important step towards fulfilling the commitments made by President Obama in Prague less than a year ago. I hope that this is only the beginning of the administration’s effort to implement this vision and that this agreement will serve to bolster nuclear non-proliferation efforts around the world, including the securing of loose nuclear materials. The President’s non-proliferation agenda is in the vital national security interests of the United States and I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Senate to help realize this vision."

March 26, 2010 Press Release

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (NH)

"The danger posed by the potential use of nuclear weapons is perhaps the most serious national security challenge facing the United States. Today, the Obama Administration reaffirmed America's leadership in strengthening global nuclear nonproliferation and securing the United States - and the world - from the threat of nuclear weapons. A well-designed treaty arrangement between the world's two largest nuclear powers will go far in enhancing U.S. national security interests and in maintaining America's security commitments around the globe. The conclusion of these negotiations will advance U.S. security interests by further reducing stockpiles of offensive nuclear weapons and intensifying efforts to counter the threats posed by the spread of nuclear weapons. This agreement will strengthen our commitment to the security of our Allies and will also reinforce verification and transparency between our two countries."

March 26, 2010 Press Release

Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Dianne Feinstein (CA)

"I congratulate the President on reaching agreement on the most significant arms-reduction treaty in decades. This is a major step toward realizing President Obama's vision of a nuclear-free world, a vision shared by a predecessor, President Ronald Reagan. And I want to acknowledge the hard work of Rose Gottemoeller, the lead treaty negotiator, and of Undersecretary of State for Arms Control Ellen Tauscher. This treaty makes significant reductions to the numbers of nuclear warheads and delivery vehicles, will renew verification arrangements that would otherwise be unavailable, and provides a major tangible result since the President reset relations with Russia. I look forward to seeing the details of the treaty in the weeks to come. The Senate Intelligence Committee will hold hearings on the treaty provisions to determine whether the verification measures are sufficient to monitor treaty compliance. This will be among the most scrutinized issues in ratification process, and I intend to make sure the Intelligence Community is capable and adequately resourced to carry out its responsibilities."

March 25, 2010 Press Release

Former Secretaries of State George Shultz and Henry Kissinger, former Democratic Secretary of Defense William Perry, and former Senator Sam Nunn

"The governments of Russia and the United States have recently concluded the talks started last year. We congratulate them on this important achievement. We look forward to carefully reviewing the Treaty when it is made public. We strongly endorse the goals of this Treaty, and we hope that after careful and expeditious review that both the United States Senate and the Russian Federal Assembly will be able to ratify the Treaty. We also urge the two governments to begin planning now for even more substantial reductions, including tactical nuclear weapons."

March 26, 2010 Press Release

President Barack Obama

"Broadly speaking, the new START Treaty makes progress in several areas. It cuts – by about a third – the nuclear weapons that the United States and Russia will deploy. It significantly reduces missiles and launchers. It puts in place a strong and effective verification regime. And it maintains the flexibility that we need to protect and advance our national security, and to guarantee our unwavering commitment to the security of our Allies. With this agreement, the United States and Russia – the two largest nuclear powers in the world – also send a clear signal that we intend to lead. By upholding our own commitments under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty, we strengthen our global efforts to stop the spread of these weapons, and to ensure that other nations meet their own responsibilities."

March 26, 2010 White House Press Release

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates

"This treaty strengthens nuclear stability. It will reduce the number of strategic nuclear weapons that both Russia and the United States are permitted to deploy by a third, and maintains an effective verification regime. America’s nuclear arsenal remains an important pillar of the U.S. defense posture, both to deter potential adversaries and to reassure more than two dozen allies and partners who rely on our nuclear umbrella for their security. But it is clear that we can accomplish these goals with fewer nuclear weapons. The reductions in this treaty will not affect the strength of our nuclear triad. Nor does this treaty limit plans to protect the United States and our allies by improving and deploying missile defense systems."

March 26, 2010 Joint Chiefs Press Release

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

"This treaty represents a significant step forward in our cooperation with Russia. We were committed from the beginning to reset the U.S.-Russia relationship, because we saw it as essential to making progress on our top priorities -- from counterterrorism, to nuclear security and non-proliferation. Now, we will continue to have disagreements with our Russian friends. But this treaty is an example of deep and substantive cooperation on a matter of vital importance. And more broadly, it shows that patient, principled diplomacy can advance our national interests by producing real results, in this case results that are good for us, good for Russia, and good for global security and stability. The treaty also shows the world -- particularly states like Iran and North Korea -- that one of our top priorities is to strengthen the global non-proliferation regime and keep nuclear materials out of the wrong hands. The new START treaty demonstrates our commitment to making progress toward disarmament under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, the so-called NPT."

March 26, 2010 Department of State Press Release

Admiral Mike Mullen, Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

"The new START deals directly with some of the most lethal of those common challenges -- our stockpiles of strategic nuclear weapons. By dramatically reducing these stockpiles, this treaty achieves a proper balance more in keeping with today's security environment, reducing tensions even as it bolsters nonproliferation efforts. It features a much more effective, transparent verification method that demands quicker data exchanges and notifications. It protects our ability to develop a conventional global strike capability, should that be required. Perhaps more critically, it allows us to deploy and maintain our proven strategic nuclear triad -- bombers, submarines and missiles -- in ways best suited to meeting our security commitments. In other words, through the trust it engenders, the cuts it requires, and the flexibility it preserves, this treaty enhances our ability to do that which we have been charged to do: protect and defend the citizens of the United States. I am as confident in its success as I am in its safeguards."

March 29, 2010 Department of Defense Press Release

See more statements in support of the new START agreement.