WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) questioned the State Department’s Undersecretary for Arms Control and International Security Andrea Thompson and the Defense Department’s Deputy Undersecretary for Policy David Trachtenberg on Russia’s new strategic weapons and how they fit under current arms control treaties.
Thompson and Trachtenberg testified at today’s Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing on the future of arms control post-Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
Click here to watch Sen. Barrasso question Undersecretary Thompson and Undersecretary Trachtenberg.
Questions to Undersecretary Thompson:
“Welcome back to the committee, it was eight months ago when we were here talking and questions I had to you were on Russia and weaponry. My concern is not will they or won’t they, but can they or can’t they—in terms of capacity and capabilities.
“Following up, the question I started with then, I’m going to start again with today.
“In March 2018, President Putin announced Russia was developing several new nuclear delivery vehicles that could evade or penetrate U.S. ballistic missile defenses.
“One of the new weapons mentioned by President Putin at the time, is a large, multiple warhead Inter-continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) called the Sarmat.
“The others include a long-range nuclear powered cruise missile, a long-range nuclear-armed underwater drone, and an air delivery hypersonic cruise missile.
“Under Article V of the New START, parties can raise their concerns about new types of strategic offensive weapons under the Bilateral Consultative Commission.
“Would these weapons be covered under the New START?
“Along those lines, how would these weapons be counted under New START, as far as warheads and all the different components of that?
“How would the inclusion of these weapons, how critical would that be in the decision on whether to extend New START?
Questions to Deputy Undersecretary Trachtenberg
“Turning over to Deputy Undersecretary Trachtenberg, in terms of President Putin declaring that these new additions to Russia’s strategic nuclear arsenal would render U.S. missile defense in his words, ‘useless.’
“What is our government’s assessment of the level of the maturity and the accuracy of these weapons, if you can give that under these settings? And if we have to go to a secure setting, we can have that discussion.
“In a follow up to this, I want to know what the United States has in terms of a current or prospective missile defense system that could intercept these weapons. And you may be in the same situation of not wanting to discuss it in an open setting.
“And in terms of what specific actions we as a government can take or are taking to respond to and to counter these new strategic nuclear weapons that Vladimir Putin continues to brag about?”
###