Reports are circulating of nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons programs in Iraq, North Korea, and elsewhere. There is concern that deployment of a US national missile defense system will violate the 1972 ABM Treaty and could spark a new arms race with China or Russia. Last year, the US failed to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. There is broad agreement that our nation needs a new approach to nuclear security that matches a new era. The emerging security threats to the US, its friends and allies, and even to Russia, now come from rogue states, terrorist groups, and other adversaries seeking weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them.
Threats also come from insecure nuclear stockpiles and the proliferation of dangerous technologies.
Russia itself is no longer our enemy. The cold war logic that led to the creation of massive stockpiles on both sides is now outdated. Our mutual security need no longer depend on a nuclear balance of terror. While deterrence remains the first line of defense against nuclear attack, the standoff of the cold war was born of a different time. It is time to leave the cold war behind.