Only in D.C. Does Cheating Not Matter

James Carafano / July 21, 2010

The Senate Armed Services Committee held a hearing on Tuesday on the implementation of the New START Treaty. Two weeks ago, Sen. John Kerry (D–MA) wrote in an op-ed that given all the testimony there was a clear record in favor of treaty ratification. However, had Sen. Kerry waited for the statements of The Honorable James Miller, Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, and General Kevin P. Chilton, Commander, U.S. Strategic Command, he may have been a little more hesitant to make such a proclamation.

Dr. Miller and General Chilton each asserted that there is no reason to worry about Russia cheating under the New START Treaty given that it will have no overall effect on U.S. security. These statements drew the wrath of Sen. John McCain (R–AZ), who retorted, “I always believed in all the treaties that I’ve been involved in, in the past 28 years, General, that cheating does matter and it does have an effect. And to say that it has little, if any, effect, then we’ve been wasting a lot of time and money on negotiations.” Even more bluntly, Sen. McCain asked, “Why have a treaty?” (more…)