Arms Control: When Biden Takes Office, Clock Will Be Ticking To Save New START Treaty
When President-elect Joe Biden is sworn into office next month, he will immediately be faced with the task of saving the last arms control treaty between the United States and Russia.
The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or New START, is up for renewal on Feb. 5, 2021, just 16 days after Biden's inauguration. The treaty, negotiated when Biden was vice president, caps the number of strategic nuclear arms — the fearful weapons designed to destroy distant targets such as cities, factories and military bases.
Even though the threat of a nuclear confrontation has faded since the end of the Cold War, Washington and Moscow still control the world's two largest nuclear arsenals. President George W. Bush, and then President Trump, withdrew from key nuclear arms agreements with Russia.
