On the recordDecember 21, 2010
I also bring to my colleagues' attention a July 14, 2010, letter to Senators Levin, Kerry, McCain, and Lugar, from former commanders of the Strategic Air Command and U.S. Strategic Command. Again, I hope my colleagues will read that letter. They list three reasons for support of the treaty. I quote from their second and third reasons: The New START Treaty contains verification and transparency measures--such as data exchanges, periodic dated updates, notification, unique identifiers on strategic systems, some access to telemetry and onsite inspections--that will give us important insights into Russian strategic nuclear forces and how they operate those forces. We will understand Russian strategic nuclear forces much better with the treaty that would be the case without it. These former military commanders go on to state that the U.S. nuclear armaments--again, I think this is for all of us as American people to realize--``will continue to be a formidable force that will ensure deterrence and give the President, should it be necessary, a broad range of military options.''
