The Arms Control Initiative at Brookings examined the progress of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), which went into effect one year ago on February 5, 2011.
Negotiated between President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, the agreement replaces the Treaty of Moscow (SORT), an earlier nuclear arms reduction agreement signed by President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The SORT Treaty was set to expire in December 2012.
The Russian President has threatened to pull out of the agreement, however, over U.S. plans to install a missile defense system in Eastern Europe. Russian officials say the proposal would upset the balance between offensive weapons and missile defense systems.
This Brookings discussion looks at implementation efforts to date and what is ahead for nuclear arms reduction in the future.