Washington Free Beacon

New Start

False START

Russian failure to notify U.S. of bomber exercises violated New START arms treaty


Recent incursions into U.S. air defense zones by Russian nuclear bombers earlier this month were part of exercises that violated provisions of the 2010 New START treaty, according to U.S. officials.

Letters to Leon

Senate, House lawmakers press Pentagon to fund nuclear modernization, bolster missile defenses


A bipartisan group of Senators is urging Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to provide more than $300 million in promised funding needed for modernizing the aging U.S. nuclear weapons complex.

Going Nuclear

GOP Armed Services chiefs call planned deeper nuclear cut ‘unilateral disarmament’


Two senior leaders of the House Armed Services Committee this week criticized President Obama’s forthcoming plan to seek deeper cuts in strategic nuclear warheads, calling a Pentagon study on the matter “unilateral disarmament.”

A Cut Too Far

Obama set to seek deeper cuts in nuclear arsenal


President Obama has decided to seek deeper cuts in deployed strategic nuclear weapons to as few as 1,000 warheads, sharply below the target of 1,550 warheads required under a 2010 U.S.-Russia arms treaty, U.S. officials said Monday.

Intermediate Threat

Turner: Russia missile tests indicate Moscow to abandon intermediate-range missile ban


Russia’s recent tests of ballistic missiles are clear signs Moscow is making good on announced threats to prepare preemptive strikes on U.S. missile defenses, a senior House Republican disclosed this week.

Robert Joseph Goes Nuclear

Former State official: Obama softline policy toward Iran, North Korea creates a more dangerous world


The State Department’s former top weapons proliferation official said recently that the Obama administration’s failure to threaten military force against Iran had helped advance the covert nuclear arms program there.

Obama nuclear cuts challenged

House bill would force the administration to fund nuclear modernization as promised during debate on New START ratification


A senior House Republican leader of the Armed Services Committee filed legislation on Thursday that would limit nuclear warhead cuts under a treaty with Russia and prevent President Obama from cutting strategic nuclear forces by 80 percent.

House Republicans to Obama: Nuke cut plan is ‘dangerous’


President Obama’s plan for the Pentagon to cut deployed strategic nuclear warheads by 80 percent is meeting harsh resistance from House Republicans on Capitol Hill who called the plan “dangerous.” In a letter to the president sent Thursday, a group of 35 House members expressed deep concerns about a National Security Council directed plan to reduce strategic warheads to as few as 300 weapons.