START Supporters

Apr 7, 2010

Gen. Chilton: Russians unconstrained, lose insight into Russian nuclear arsenal
Without New START, we would rapidly lose insight into Russian strategic nuclear force developments and activities, and our force modernization planning and hedging strategy would be more complex and more costly. Without such a regime, we would unfortunately be left to use worst-case analyses regarding our own force requirements. Further, we would be required increasingly to focus low-density/high demand intelligence collection and analysis assets on Russian nuclear forces.”
[General Kevin Chilton, STRATCOM Commander, 6/16/10]

Lt. General John Castellaw (US Marine Corps, retired): lose inspections, worst-case planning
“U.S. ability to conduct on-site inspections will continue to be suspended . . .U.S. is obliged to plan on worst-case scenarios with regard to our own deployments.”
[Lt. General John Castellaw (US Marine Corps, retired), 11/15/10]

Lt. General Dirk Jameson (USAF, retired): Less information about Russians
"Without it [New START] we'd be poorly equipped to monitor Russia's arsenal.”
[Lt. General Dirk Jameson, former Deputy Commander in Chief and Chief of Staff of U.S. Strategic Command, 7/19/10]

Henry Kissinger, National Security Advisor to President Nixon and Secretary of State to Presidents Nixon and Ford
"I recommend ratification of this treaty... this committee's decision will affect the prospects for peace for a decade or more. It is, by definition, not a bipartisan, but a nonpartisan, challenge."
~ Testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, May 25, 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 Chairman 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

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

Sen. John McCain (AZ)
"The Cold War ended almost twenty years ago, and the time has come to take further measures to reduce dramatically the number of nuclear weapons in the world's arsenals. In so doing, the United States can – and indeed, must – show the kind of leadership the world expects from us, in the tradition of American presidents who worked to reduce the nuclear threat to mankind...As the Administration reviews its nuclear weapons posture, it should, I believe, seek to reduce the size of our nuclear arsenal to the lowest number possible consistent with our security requirements and global commitments. This means a move, as rapidly as possible, to a significantly smaller force."
June 3, 2009 Senate floor speech

Former Secretary of State James Baker
James A. Baker III, who was secretary of state when the Berlin Wall fell, was in Moscow for a conference on the politics of Caspian Sea oil and natural gas riches that both Russia and the West are maneuvering to obtain access to. Mr. Baker called the goal of eliminating nuclear weapons laudable but said Russian-American relations could be more immediately revived with the measure of resuming talks on prolonging the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or Start I, which expires in December.
March 19, 2009 New York Times article

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