ACCESSION NUMBER:245381
FILE ID:POL402
DATE:10/01/92
TITLE:SENATE APPROVES HISTORIC START TREATY (10/01/92)
TEXT:*92100102.POL
SENATE APPROVES HISTORIC START TREATY
(Consensus produces overwhelming support) (550)
By Bruce Carey
USIA Congressional Correspondent
Washington -- The U.S. Senate has ratified the historic Strategic Arms
Reduction Treaty (START), paving the way for the United States and
successor states of the former Soviet Union to dismantle thousands of
strategic nuclear weapons.
Senators voted 93-6 in favor of START, far in excess of the two-thirds
majority needed to approve treaties with foreign governments. Under the
U.S. Constitution, the president must obtain such approval before
committing the United States to treaty obligations.
The October 1 vote marked only the second time in history that a negotiated
nuclear arms reduction treaty will become a reality between nuclear powers;
the first occasion was on May 27, 1988, when the Senate approved the
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.
1hereas INF had been ratified with some reluctance, START was approved
enthusiastically. A changed world situation and the long, often difficult
nine years of negotiating START led to its swift and decisive approval by
the Senate.
Special legislation to implement the provisions of START is still needed.
That is likely to be easily obtained, because it requires only a simple
majority vote of both the Senate and House of Representatives.
Once President Bush and Russian President Yeltsin formally exchange treaty
documents, their two countries will initiate a gradual build down of
strategic long-rage nuclear arsenals. Each side will be limited to 1,600
strategic offensive nuclear delivery systems. That would include no more
than 6,000 warheads each with sublimits of 4,900 on Intercontinental
Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) and Sea-Launched Ballistic Missiles (SLBMs);
1,540 on 154 heavy ICBMs; and 1,100 on deployed mobile ICBMs.
That would represent about 54 percent of current Soviet ballistic missile
throwweight.
Each of 150 U.S. heavy bombers count as 10 Air-Launched Cruise Missiles
(ALCMs); likewise each of 180 heavy bombers of the former Soviet Union
count as eight ALCMs.
The seven-year draw down period under START will take place in three stages.
It requires specific procedures to eliminate heavy bombers and launchers
for ICBMs and SLBMs.
START incorporates an effective verification regime that includes on-site
inspections and a large number of specific rules governing dismantlement
procedures.
To meet its treaty commitment, the United States plans to retire 450 silos
housing Minuteman Two missiles, 23 ships carrying Poseidon missiles, and
346 older B-52 bombers.
Although the START pact already has been viewed as nearly obsolete by many
observers, its ratification was regarded by both the White House and
Congress as essential. It is seen by the United States and the nuclear
states of the former Soviet Union (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan)
as a means of building confidence between former adversaries.
It is also viewed by the international community as a framework under which
President Bush and Russian President Yeltsin were able to agree at their
last summit in Washington to yet further cuts in nuclear arms.
While START will leave the United States with about 8,500 warheads and
Russia with 6,500 from a cumulative total of around 10,000 on each side,
the post-START accord will further reduce the number of warheads to between
3,000 and 3,500 each by 2003.
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