Administration officials have suggested that, with New START’S ratification, other weapons-reduction treaties – such as the long-stalled Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) – could move up on the White House agenda. But some experts foresee exactly the opposite effect.
"CTBT, RIP," says Henry Sokolski, executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center in Washington. Bitterness over Democratic tactics in getting the treaty ratified in a lame-duck session, as well as revived Republican scrutiny in the wake of the treaty debate, will only make any push for related or “add-on” treaties more problematic in the new Congress, he says.
As the US and Russia draw down their nuclear arsenals, a key question is this: When will other countries that are building up their own arsenals – China, Pakistan, and India, for example – match Russia for importance in of nuclear threat reduction? "New START may be the Studebaker of US-Russia arms reduction," Mr. Sokolski says. “It just may be the last of a model.”
