Obama’s Russia agenda: 1000

According to correspondent Tim Reid, the Times (UK) has learned of Obama's plan to "slash each country's stockpile of nuclear weapons by 80 per cent" by cutting the number of warheads to 1,000 per side.  According the article, this will be one of the first examples of the Samore/Clinton team, with Samore's office overseeing the process and State "driving the talks."  Not surprisingly, missile defense is mentioned as a key sticking point.  It would not be shocking to see the issue of NATO expansion also thrown into the talks.  As one of the first concrete nuclear proposals coming from the interesting, it will be interested to monitor the pushback and potential complications.  The article quoted a Republican saying "there will be trouble in Congress."  A START follow-on to 1,000 will be contentions not just on the Hill but also the labs, the military, etc.  There certainly has been some homework done in the issue but seeing how the debates play out on issues like the need to increase infrastructure capabilities to offset reductions, the technical procedure for going to 1,000, and credible bilateral verification measures will all be important.