In Nuclear Arms Talks, Go Slow on START

Publication Date: January 1989

Publisher: Heritage Foundation (Washington, D.C.)

Author(s): Kim R. Holmes

Research Area: International relations; Military and defense

Keywords: National security

Type: Report

Abstract:

The Reagan Administration seems to have been rushing into a START treaty. With George Bush coming into office and charting his own security policies, it is important for him to pause and reflect on where the U.S. is, and where it should be heading, with START. Many questions have been raised about the merits of the current U.S. negotiating position. Experts fear that a START agreement will make U.S. land-based forces more vulnerable to a disarming Soviet attack, weaken the U.S. sea-based deterrent, and in general create a new arms imbalance at lower force level that leaves the Soviets better off than the U.S. There are also questions about whether a START treaty could be effectively verified.