Panelists talked about the next phase of nuclear weapons reductions in the U.S. and Russia, and they answered questions from the audience at the end of their discussion. Topics included Obama administration strategy and on NATO’s inability to come up with a plan for dealing with nuclear weapons left over from the Cold War. Jon Wolfsthal, a former White House negotiator for the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) said that Republicans in Congress are playing a “partisan game” when they raise objections to the Obama administration’s nuclear arsenal maintenance budget. He also said he was pessimistic about the next round of nuclear reduction talks between the U.S. and Russia.
This forum was part of an Arms Control Association conference on nuclear nonproliferation issues.