Strategic Arms Limitation Talks Accords

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks Accords

Introduction to Strategic Arms Limitation Talks Accords

The negotiations known as SALT I began in November 1969 and ended in January 1972, with agreement on two documents: the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM Treaty) and the Interim Agreement on the Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms. Both were signed on May 26, 1972. SALT II talks began in September 1972 and ended in January 1979.” (1)

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Guide to Strategic Arms Limitation Talks Accords

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks Accords: The ABM Treaty

Introduction to Strategic Arms Limitation Talks Accords

The ABM Treaty limited the numbers of allowed weapons and radars and regulated their composition and location, but allowed continued testing and development. Both signatories agreed to limit the placement of ABM systems within their own national territories, and both agreed not to build any systems other than the immobile land-based types already developed or deployed. The signatories also agreed not to enter into any accord with third parties that would contravene the treaty. Verification was provided by “national technical means”-that is, the use of any remote sensing technology commanded by either signatory-which were thus acknowledged as legitimate tools of intelligence under international law. The treaty also established a Standing Consultative Commission charged with monitoring violations and considering further arms-control proposals. Although of unlimited duration, the treaty was subject to review every five years, with a six-month withdrawal notification time. However, in 2001, under the administration of President George W. Bush, the United States unilaterally withdrew from the treaty.” (1)

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Notes and References

Guide to Strategic Arms Limitation Talks Accords

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks Accords: The Interim Agreement

Introduction to Strategic Arms Limitation Talks Accords

Under the Interim Agreement the parties concurred in limiting the numbers of strategic missile launchers on both land and sea to the numbers and types then existing or under construction, but they allowed for the improvement of those existing types. The agreement was to remain in force for five years, with a six-month notification of termination, but both sides informally agreed to extend it beyond expiration.” (1)

Resources

Notes and References

Guide to Strategic Arms Limitation Talks Accords

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks Accords: SALT II

Introduction to Strategic Arms Limitation Talks Accords

The second round of negotiations, called SALT II, resulted in the Vladivostok Accord of November 1974 and the SALT II Treaty, signed on June 18, 1979. The former placed limits, for the first time, on the total numbers of strategic launchers and of U.S. strategic bombers.

The SALT II Treaty set precise limits on the numbers of each type and subtype of strategic launcher and specifically defined each type. It provided for destruction of all launchers beyond the number allowed, but permitted the testing and development of certain kinds of launchers. Verification was provided once again by national technical means, with no on-site inspection. The SALT II Treaty met with stiff resistance when it was presented to the U.S. Senate for ratification, and in January 1980 the Senate debate was postponed at the request of President Jimmy Carter in retaliation for Soviet intervention in Afghanistan.

Although the treaty never entered into force, both the United States and the USSR pledged to abide by its limits. In May 1982 President Ronald Reagan, an opponent of SALT II, advanced his own proposal for a Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), calling for deep cuts in land-based missiles (in which the USSR was perceived to hold an advantage). This became the U.S. negotiating position during talks at Geneva, Switzerland, but the Soviets broke off the talks in late 1983 to protest the deployment of U.S. intermediate-range missiles in Europe. When formal negotiations resumed in January 1985, the United States continued to focus on land-based weapons, while the USSR demanded that space weaponry-as envisioned in the U.S. Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)-be the leading item on the agenda.

The Soviets eventually dropped this demand, and direct talks between President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev led to the signing of the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in December 1987. Negotiations continued after George H. W. Bush was elected U.S. president in 1988, and in July 1991 he and Gorbachev signed the START I Treaty, by which the signatories agreed to reduce the number of nuclear warheads by about 25 percent. After the breakup of the USSR in 1991, negotiations on START I began between the United States and the former Soviet republics of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. A supplemental agreement was signed in 1992, and the five countries agreed to follow the 1991 treaty. Although Ukraine signed the supplemental agreement, it was the last country to ratify START I. Therefore, START I did not become effective until November 1994, when Ukraine finally agreed to the terms of the treaty. In appreciation for the ratification, the United States pledged almost $1 billion to Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine to help them dismantle the nuclear weapons and to turn military factories into civilian buildings.

The implementation of START I made possible continued progress on START II. The START II Treaty was signed by President Bush and Russian president Boris Yeltsin in January 1993 but could not be ratified until START I had come into effect. START II called for the elimination of almost three-quarters of the nuclear warheads held by the five countries over nine years. In September 1994 U.S. president Bill Clinton and Russian president Yeltsin agreed to begin dismantling the nuclear weapons as soon as the United States Senate and the Russian Duma (the parliament) ratified START II. The Duma never ratified START II, but in 2002 an entirely new treaty, replacing START II, was signed between the United States and the Russian Federation. Once ratified, the new treaty, known as the Treaty of Moscow, was expected to reduce each nation’s stockpile of nuclear warheads from about 6,000 each to about 2,200 each by the year 2012.” (1)

Resources

Notes and References

Guide to Strategic Arms Limitation Talks Accords


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