Friday's announcement of a new US-Russia strategic arms reduction treaty was achieved partly because the negotiators agreed to separate the issue from the controversy over the US missile defence programme.

Russia has strongly opposed the programme, but US officials say missile defence has become an integral part of security for the United States and its allies, and they predict significant advances during the next two years.

After US president Barack Obama announced the agreement at the White House on March 26 2010, US defence secretary Robert Gates made this simple declaration. "Missile defense is not constrained by this treaty," he said.

That was good news for the large and growing segment of the US defence establishment and defence industry devoted to missile defence.  At an annual conference for such people this week, Gates' deputy, William Lynn, made this almost triumphant statement to several hundred government workers and industry executives.

"The high-pitched partisan debate over whether to invest in missile defence is no longer with us," he said. "Ballistic missile defence is without question an important part of our current and future strategy.  We are committed to developing new missile technologies to their fullest."

Controversy is not over yet

Lynn was referring to decades of controversy over whether it was possible to develop a missile that could hit and destroy an incoming missile in flight, and to do so at a reasonable and sustainable cost. 

The controversy is not completely over, but the Obama administration's ballistic missile defence review, released in February, endorsed what had largely been a programme supported by Republican Party presidents and members of Congress.

Now that the decision has been made to move forward with what the review called an "integral" part of US defences, the second ranking US military officer, General James Cartwright, says the American military commands will spend some time figuring out how to use the various aspects of the system in their regions.

"What makes sense for the Gulf region, what makes sense for Europe, what makes sense for the Pacific, they're not going to be the same.  And how we figure that out and how we move in a direction that's both effective and affordable is the work that has to be done over the next two years," he said.

The $10-billion US missile defence programme involves a combination of systems designed to detect and intercept missiles coming from short, medium and long distances.  There are only minutes - sometimes seconds - to react, and the incoming weapons are traveling faster than the speed of sound. 

Russian deterrent

As a result, the US needs radar installations and anti-missile launch sites in key regions, particularly in Central Europe to counter the growing missile threat from Iran.  And Russia, the US partner on strategic arms reduction and in the effort to convince Iran not to develop nuclear weapons, has not been at all happy about that.

Russia says the European missile defence system changes the balance of power and threatens its nuclear arsenal.  But Andrew Kuchins, director of the Russia and Eurasia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, says that's not the real reason for Russian opposition.

"They understand that these systems don't have the capability to compromise the Russian strategic deterrent.  What they want to do, I think, is try to block the development of missile defence capabilities in general so as to make it more costly for the United States to deploy conventional forces into the [European] theatre," he said.

'Conventional superiority'

But deputy defence secretary Lynn says the ability to project conventional power without the threat of missile attacks is crucial to the US global security strategy, and its treaty obligations.  

"This risk could push our forces further from the battle space, compromising our ability to bring our conventional superiority to bear.  The credibility of our security guarantees to allies and to partners especially in the Middle East and East Asia depends on our ability to project power despite these threats," he said.

Secretary of state Hillary Clinton indicated on March 26 that she wants to talk more with the Russians about missile defence.  "We continue to look for ways to engage with Russia on missile defence in a way that is mutually beneficial and protective of countries' security against these new threats we face in the world," she said.

Russia has offered some co-operation on missile defence in the past, but has resisted the kind of system US officials have proposed.  Still, the Obama administration is determined to move forward with plans to put missile defence installations in Poland and Romania.

Deputy undersecretary of defence for policy, James Miller, says there will be major developments during the next few years.  "I think we're on a very good path to making a sea-change in our missile defense posture within the coming three-to-five years," he said.

Miller says US missile defence capability is not as good as it should be in some areas, particularly the Middle East, but he expects that to change significantly, and soon.
Obama says the new nuclear arms reduction treaty agreed to with Russia after intense negotiations over the last year sends a strong signal that both nations are taking the lead in reducing nuclear weapons.

Obama and Russian president Dmitry Medvedev set an April 8 date in Prague to sign the treaty, which would reduce the number of nuclear weapons on each side by about one-third.

Addressing reporters in the White House briefing room, president Obama said the agreement moves the world closer to the goal of a more secure future without such weapons, which he said represent both the darkest days of the Cold War, and the most troubling threats of our time.

"Today, we've taken another step forward by - in leaving behind the legacy of the 20th century while building a more secure future for our children," said president Obama.

Earlier in the day, the president spoke by phone with Russian president Medvedev, which the White House noted was the 14th direct meeting or phone conversation on the new treaty.

The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), signed in 1991, expired in December, and president Obama set the goal of achieving a new treaty as one of his major priorities.

The new agreement would reduce the number of strategic nuclear arms of both sides by one-third and provide for full verification and monitoring.

Secretary of defence Gates said that while no one expects the world will achieve the goal of "zero nuclear weapons" anytime soon, the new treaty is a major step toward greater security with fewer nuclear weapons:

"It is clear that we can accomplish goals with fewer nuclear weapons," said Gates. "The reductions in this treaty will not affect the strength of our nuclear triad, nor does this treaty limit plans to protect the U.S. and our allies by improving and deploying missile defense systems."

Secretary of state Clinton said the new treaty is also a major step in the goal of "resetting" the US-Russia relationship, which includes efforts to deal with nuclear proliferation and terrorism.

"We were committed from the beginning to reset the US- Russia relationship because we saw it as essential to making progress on our top priorities, from counter-terrorism, to nuclear security and nonproliferation," said Clinton.

Secretary Clinton said the US and Russia will continue to have disagreements, but added the treaty is an example of deep and substantive cooperation on a matter of vital importance.

The treaty will have to be ratified both by Russia's parliament and the US senate, something president Obama and his administration are committed to achieving.

The president met this week with two lawmakers who will play a key role in this, senators John Kerry and Richard Lugar, the chairman and ranking Republican on the senate foreign relations committee, as Obama hopes to pave the way for action in the coming months.

House of representatives foreign affairs committee chairman Howard Berman voiced hope the new treaty will set an example for other nuclear powers and help strengthen global nonproliferation efforts "severely threatened" by Iranian and North Korean efforts to acquire nuclear weapons.

Asked what the new treaty means for US-Russia co-operation on the Iranian nuclear issue, secretary Clinton referred to recent in depth consultations. She said there will be increasing activity in the very near future aimed at achieving the votes needed in the UN Security Council for a package of sanctions on Iran.

In Russia, the announcement on the nuclear arms treaty was made by foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in a live nationwide television statement.
 
 
Source: VOANews.com