Global General

US to adopt new policy on using nuclear arms

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-04-06 10:41
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One senior administration official said that the US wants another round of talks between the White House and the Kremlin that would include so-called "non-deployed" nuclear weapons -- the thousands of warheads on both sides that are held in reserve and not ready for immediate use.

George Perkovich, a nuclear weapons expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the Russians have a strong incentive to limit reserve weaponry because the US could quickly mount its stored warheads back onto missiles.

Russia's struggling military forces would have a harder time preparing their reserve warheads for use in the event of war.

US officials believe that talks on reducing stockpiled warheads could persuade Russia to negotiate limits on short-range weapons -- a category of arms in which the Russians hold a large numerical advantage.

But the call for expanded talks is also linked to a nearer-term goal: constraining the spread of nuclear weapons technology and keeping nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists.

Reducing the short range bombs and stored warheads would involve more intrusive inspections than agreed in the treaty Obama and Medvedev will sign this week. But officials say that new technologies for verifying and counting warheads could ease concerns on both sides about protecting the secrecy of their weapons designs.

These technologies allow inspectors to verify narrow characteristics of warheads without revealing details of their structure.

Another potential obstacle to expanding the next set of nuclear arms talks is Russia's strong resistance to US missile defense in Europe.

Moscow sought to include constraints on missile defense in the new START, but US officials say the agreement contains no such limits. The treaty text has not been made public.

Overall, when it comes to further cuts in nuclear arsenals, the Obama administration could face an uphill struggle in any effort to bring Russia back to the bargaining table.

"The Russians seem less than enthusiastic about moving ahead with this," said Joseph Cirincione, president of the Ploughshares Fund, a foundation that advocates for a nuclear weapon-free world.

Ellen Tauscher, the under secretary of state for arms control, told reporters March 29 that the administration has a "big agenda" for the next set of nuclear arms talks, and that it includes limiting short-range weapons.

The US has an estimated 200 short-range nuclear weapons in Europe under a NATO agreement, whereas the Russians are believed to have 10 times that many deployed in European Russia.

These weapons are a legacy of the Cold War standoff in divided Europe, and there is now a growing push by Europeans to negotiate away these weapons.

Russia, on the other hand, sees tactical nuclear warheads as a counterweight to the military superiority of NATO.

In its just-completed reassessment of US nuclear weapons policy -- known as the Nuclear Posture Review -- the administration chose not to commit to reducing its nuclear weapons in Europe. The thinking was that it should be addressed in negotiations with the Russians, several officials said.

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