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Obama’s Nuclear Weapons Drawdown Could Run Afoul of the Law
President Barack Obama’s efforts to significantly curtail U.S. nuclear weapons without seeking the proper Senate approval are at best misguided and worst illegal, sources tell Newsmax.
Obama is exploring opportunities to achieve the reductions in infrastructure and capability he seeks – including a drawdown to 1,000 weapons – without seeking the advice and consent of the Senate that international treaties require.
Efforts to push the boundaries of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) with Russia are ill-advised, sources say. A proposal that seeks to achieve nuclear arms reductions outside the framework of New START, however, would run afoul of the law.
“A presidential announcement that would try to do a nontreaty agreement would be prohibited by the code,” Baker Spring, a research fellow in national security policy at the Heritage Foundation, tells Newsmax.
The Senate has specifically spoken to the precise circumstances pertaining to any modification or reinterpretation of New START or a new agreement that would reduce the U.S. arsenal to levels below those included in New START.
The statements are found in the Senate-approved resolution of ratification accompanying New START. Specifically, Declaration 9 of the resolution states that any agreement or understanding that modifies, amends, or reinterprets New START should be submitted to the Senate for ratification.
Declaration 11 states that any new nuclear-arms reduction agreement beyond New START also should be subject to the treaty process and require Senate consent under the Constitution.
Pursuing additional nuclear reductions also could run afoul of the 1961 Arms Control and Disarmament Act, which requires congressional approval for nuclear-weapons disarmament.
More: http://www.newsmax.com/newswidget/obama-…z2OOl3JXAT
2013-03-23 14:03:28
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