Kyl, Corker Outline Objections to New START

The Obama administration’s plans “to modernize the nation’s nuclear weapons complex remain inadequate and should be further refined before the ratification of a new arms control treaty with Russia, the lead Senate Republican negotiator said Wednesday,” the New York Times reports.

In a memorandum to his colleagues, the senator, Jon Kyl of Arizona, the No. 2 Republican in the upper chamber and his party’s point man on the treaty, called New Start, detailed his objections for the first time since declaring last week that there was not enough time to consider the treaty this year.

From the beginning, Mr. Kyl wrote, he has been clear that he “could not support reductions in U.S. nuclear forces unless there is adequate attention to modernizing those forces and the infrastructure that supports them.” The administration has committed to spend more money for that purpose, but “there remain a few substantial concerns about the adequacy of the proposed budget,” the memo said.

“Until these issues are resolved, it will be difficult to adequately assess the updated 1251 plan, despite the welcome increases in proposed spending,” the memo added, using a term referring to the modernization proposal. “And as has always been clear, assurances from the appropriate authorizers and appropriators must be obtained to ensure that the enacted budget reflects the president’s request.”

The memo, circulated privately to Republican senators on Wednesday and obtained by The New York Times, was also signed by Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, another important figure in the debate. Mr. Corker voted for New Start when it was passed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in September, but now agrees with Mr. Kyl that it should not come to a floor vote during the current lame-duck session of Congress.

Some details:

In their seven-page memo on Wednesday, Mr. Kyl and Mr. Corker said they welcomed the administration’s effort, but wanted further assurances. For one thing, they wrote, the vast bulk of the original $80 billion would have been spent anyway, just “keeping the lights on” at nuclear laboratories and plants for safety, security, upkeep and routine warhead maintenance. Only $10 billion was new money for weapons activity, they wrote, a point the administration disputes. The latest administration plan, delivered Nov. 17, increased the total 10-year plan to between $85.4 billion and $86.2 billion.

Most of the new money would go to designing and building a new plutonium processing plant at the Los Alamos complex in New Mexico, and a new uranium processing plant at the Oak Ridge complex in Tennessee. The new facilities would replace buildings left over from the Manhattan Project era, when the first nuclear bombs were developed.

But while the facilities would begin partial operations by 2020, they would not be fully functional until 2023 and 2024. “Additional funding could be applied to accelerate the construction of these facilities to ensure on schedule completion,” the Republican memo said.

Moreover, the new facilities would not have the capacity to produce enough weapons for a larger arsenal should the international political situation demand a renewed buildup, the memo said. And it said the administration should be more clear about its vision for the nuclear triad, meaning the bombers, missiles and submarines that make up the nation’s nuclear force.