add to facebook
State Department Fights for New START
Travis | Mar 18, 2010 |
0 
Rarely Foggy Bottom
When Jim Jones and Adm. Mike Mullen traveled to Moscow to discuss New START back in January, the folks at the State Department must have been on edge. While State’s Rose Gottemoeller and Ellen Tauscher had been killing themselves for a year negotiating the agreement, it seemed like Jones and Mullen might swoop in, seal the deal, and steal the glory.
Now, I’m sure State was not rooting against its military teammates or anything like that. Nevertheless, it’s understandable that Foggy Bottom wanted to be the agency that gave the Obama administration a much-needed foreign policy win—particularly in an age when the military is increasingly squeezing out State as the primary executor of U.S. foreign policy...
Since Jones and Mullen weren’t able to wrap things up in January, however, State now has a unique opportunity to stake its victory claim on New START. Hillary Clinton is meeting this week in Moscow with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to try and push New START across the finish line. I get the sense that State recognizes its opportunity here and thought beforehand about how to maneuver through the endgame.
For example, Tauscher taped a short video two weeks ago explaining why the administration believes that New START is so important. Then on Monday, Clinton talked about New START during an interview with The New Times. Here are the two answers where Clinton was especially good:
SECRETARY CLINTON: I'm optimistic that we'll be able to complete this agreement soon. It's a technically very complex treaty to accomplish. We share an interest in making real reductions in our strategic arsenals, and that is the most important point. To do that in a way that is verifiable, but which is less costly and less operationally complex than the previous START agreement is the key challenge, and we are working through it together.
[snip]
SECRETARY CLINTON: As both Presidents agreed in Moscow, the subject of the new START treaty will be strategic offensive arms. We are more than willing to discuss missile defense and other defensive systems with our Russian partners, but we feel that the best way forward is to give each issue the full and separate attention it deserves. We are discussing missile defense cooperation with the Russian Government, and we hope to cooperate on missile defense with Russia to address a range of threats from around the world. Russia and the United States have unique missile defense assets which if used together in a cooperative manner could enhance the security of both countries.
Those are really solid answers. First, Clinton shows that she is picking up what Greg Thielmann is laying down; namely, that New START’s verification provisions are going to be more streamlined than START I’s. Then, Clinton threads the needle between some in the Russian Duma demanding offense-defense linkage and those in the U.S. Senate insisting that any linkage is unacceptable. Clinton hints at the same formula Kingston and I, along with many others, have articulated: missile defenses will not be limited in New START (and need not be at the force levels under consideration), but joint U.S.-Russia missile defenses may be the only option after New START if the United States wants to further reduce nuclear arms while simultaneously developing unconstrained missile defenses.
This is pretty inside baseball, but it suggests to me that Clinton and her entire team have been doing their homework because State wants a W (that’s “win”, not Dubya) on New START. If this is the type of savvy PR work we will see from State during the New START roll-out—and inevitable conservative backlash—then the prospects for crisp, comfortable Senate approval will continue to grow.
UPDATE 12:15 PM: Early reporting seems encouraging. "We have entered the final straight," said Lavrov. Added Clinton:
We are beginning our discussions about where and when our two presidents will sign the START agreement. But we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. First, our negotiators have to sign on the dotted line, so to speak, that they have completed the negotiations. And we’re looking forward to getting that word soon and then we will move on to setting a time and a place for this very important event.
Nukes on a Blog, New START, Obama Administration (all tags)
|
State Department Fights for New START | 0 Comments | Post a Comment
|
In order to post a comment, you must be logged in. If you have a member account, please log in to comment.
If not, you can make an account by clicking right here. It's quick and free.
