Assessing Deep Reductions in U.S. and Russian Nuclear Weapons

(Paperback)

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In 2009, presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev pledged to sign a bilateral treaty to limit the nuclear arsenals of the United States and Russia to approximately 1,500 deployed nuclear weapons and 750 delivery systems. While this represents a significant reduction from cold war-era levels, the two countries still retain more than 90 percent of the world's nuclear weapons. As good-faith progress toward President Obama's stated commitment "to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons," both countries need to begin negotiating a follow-up bilateral treaty to reduce their respective arsenals. Micah Zenko offers specific recommendations for U.S. policy on four strategic and technical issues that such a treaty would raise: beginning high-level discussions with U.S. allies on the tradeoffs between extended deterrence and deeper nuclear cuts; promoting the joint U.S.-Russia development of missile defense radar and interceptors; proposing transparency and confidence-building measures for deployed U.S. and Russian tactical nuclear weapons; and, developing a framework to account for deploying advanced conventional weapons on nuclear-capable delivery systems. At a time of global nuclear uncertainty, this report defines a path to greater security and commitment to a nonnuclear world.

Author Bio

Micah Zenko is a fellow for conflict prevention at the Council on Foreign Relations.