On the recordDecember 21, 2010
This is a major amendment. In my view, it is a deal breaker. It is a poison pill for the entire treaty. It essentially provides real changes in the treaty. It says the President, prior to the treaty going into effect, must certify that he has achieved certain side agreements, and those side agreements strike directly at some of the heart of the treaty. Therefore, it will effectively, in my view, be unacceptable to the Russians and will destroy the treaty. The treaty now says you cannot block an inspector's ability to ascertain warheads on a reentry vehicle. That covers the cover issue. This again says that telemetry by a prior agreement--that there be a side agreement on full access to telemetry for all missiles, and then on new missiles, is one-sided. Clearly, this is not going to be acceptable. Then it goes into the type one inspections. If you are for the treaty, there is only one vote, and it is to vote no. I very much regret this because I respect the Senator. As I see it--and there are things I cannot go into here that I tried to go into yesterday--this is a poison pill amendment.
