Arms Control Folly

Ariel Cohen / January 14, 2010

On January 12th William Hartung posted a criticism of Ariel Cohen’s January 8th New York Times op-ed on the START follow-on treaty. Instead of a substantive response, Hartung has created a straw man, proceeds to valiantly demolish it, and in the process twists our op-ed.

Hartung charges us with being misleading and alarmist. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our main concern is that the START follow on treaty may not adequately address nuclear modernization, verification, and will link the performance of the treaty to limitations on missile defense.

The fact is that the Obama Administration is mishandling the arms control negotiations with Russia. It is not just our opinion: 41 senators signed a letter to President Obama raising this point. The Administration is damaging the arms control process. Worse, it is jeopardizing the security of the United States and its allies. (more…)