The Biden administration will seek a five-year renewal of a major nuclear arms control agreement between the U.S. and Russia, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki confirmed on Thursday.
The New START treaty expires next week, so it is among the most urgent national security questions facing the new administration. The pact, which went into effect in 2011, caps the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads and bombs for each country, as well as the number of deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and heavy bombers assigned to nuclear missions.
“The president has long been clear that the New START treaty is in the national security interest of the United States,” Psaki told reporters at a White House briefing. The Washington Post first reported the Biden administration’s decision to seek a five-year extension of the treaty.
“This extension makes even more sense when the relationship with Russia is adversarial, as it is at this time,” Psaki said.
The Trump administration had been in talks with Moscow to renew the treaty for a shorter period of time, but those negotiations stalled even as its Feb. 5 expiration date drew closer.
Psaki noted that New START is the only remaining treaty constraining Russian nuclear forces and called it “an anchor of strategic stability” between the U.S. and Russia.
Psaki also confirmed that President Joe Biden has asked the US intelligence community to conduct a broad assessment of recent Russian actions, including Moscow’s role in these four matters:
- The massive Solar Winds cyberattack that hit US government agencies and private companies
- Interference in the 2020 presidential election
- The poisoning of Alexei Navalny, a Russian opposition leader
- Reports that Russia may have offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants in Afghanistan to kill American soldiers.
Throughout his four years in office, ex-President Donald Trump was seen as overly solicitous toward Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump repeatedly questioned or downplayed American intelligence conclusions blaming Russia for range of damaging actions, including Moscow’s interference in the 2016 election.
— Deirdre Shesgreen
Democratic senators ask Senate Ethics Committee to investigate Cruz, Hawley over Jan. 6 Capitol riot
In a letter to the Senate Ethics Committee, seven Democratic senators asked for an investigation into the conduct of the two Republican senators – Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Josh Hawley of Missouri – who led objections to counting of the electoral votes on Jan. 6, the same day a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol.
By objecting to the votes, the senators wrote, Cruz and Hawley “amplified claims of election fraud that had resulted in threats of violence against state and local officials around the country” and “lent legitimacy to the mob’s cause.”
“The Committee should also offer recommendations for strong disciplinary action, including up to expulsion or censure, if…
Read More: 7 senators ask for ethics investigation of Cruz, Hawley