Obama’s incoming nuclear challenges

At the end of last week the New York Times published an opinion piece about that lays out the nuclear-related challenges facing the Obama administration.  Blaming Bush for dropping the ball for a host of nuclear issues (minus SORT), they argue Obama should take the following steps: 

• Engage the Russians by creating a follow-on to START that could go down to as low as 1,000
• Work for ratification of CTBT and some sort of fissile material ban
• Oppose plans to create a "new nuclear warhead," despite Gates' support for the program

 Negotiations with the Russians will clearly begin quickly but the prospects of getting a follow-on treaty both negotiated and approved by the Senate and the Duma would be quite difficult.  A 5 year extension of START would not require the same degree of Senate approval and also not the same amount of renegotiating in the short term.  Once the dust from the stimulus and other initial moves settles, CTBT, FMCT, and RRW will be important issues for the administration but they will certainly be big fights on the Hill.