Brookings U.S.-Russian Nuclear Arms Control Event

Brookings hosted a panel event this afternoon on U.S.-Russian Arms Control that included Victoria Nuland (Moderator), Strobe Talbott, Steven Pifer, and Carlos Pascual.  Talbott's remarks mainly consisted of providing a background and updating of key theoretical concepts within US/Russian Arms Control (the role of nuclear weapons, the importance of bilateral arms control, offense/defense, etc.).  Pifer's remarks stemmed from his May 2009 paper that provides a background of START/SORT and then argues for adopting a first step follow-on of 1500.  This initial step should not be too difficult but is still daunting given some say a signed treaty would need to be on the Hill as early as September to pass before December 5.  Pascual's discussion took the US/Russian relationship to a broader level and discussed the broader context on nonproliferation and the host of countries that might make a play for nuclear weapons if key issues like Iran are not dealt with (including Pakistan immediately selling Saudi Arabia a nuclear weapon). A couple of random takeaways: 1. Missile Defense- there was some good discussion both during the remarks and the Q&A about  missile defense:

• It probably shouldn't be in the initial START follow-on
• ABM (which seeks to regulate, not eliminate, missile defense) is something that perhaps should be revisited and altered in light of things like China
• The NATO-Russia council could be a good place to revive military-to-military discussion
• Agreed strategic threat perceptions (e.g., what/who is missile defense trying to defend against) are key to joint missile defense

2. The Youth- relevant to the core PONI mission, there was a good discussion in the Q&A about the role of younger people in nuclear weapons policy moving forward.  This stretches from the "30-somethings and 40-somethings in the administration" (which includes the President) who may think about strategic relationships differently to the young people in the room itself.  One of the panelists argued that the arms control's re-emergence on the policy agenda provides a great place for careers to get started as people will have to be involved in negotiations with other countries and figure out how to dust off the library of work on these issues and reshape these ideas given geopolitical changes and developments.