Committing To Cut

A Trident missile at liftoff. Photograph: AP (Image from The Guardian)

Cutting the Stockpile -- In From The Cold

Say this for Hillary Clinton: she knows how to follow her marching orders.

Apparently, all those years with Bill were excellent preparation for carrying out ill-advised or foolhardy tasks. From that ill-fated national health care plan to ignoring her husband's many indiscretions, Ms. Clinton is adept at handling chores that most of us would summarily reject.

Consider her newest priority as Secretary of State. Ms. Clinton has informed Congress (and her staff) that she wants early talks with Russia on "sharply reducing" the size of both nation's nuclear arsenals. The goal is a replacement for the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which limits the U.S. and Russia to 6,000 nuclear warheads each.

Some wonder if a new accord is even necessary--but both countries are far below that total. The U.S. stockpile is believed to be at 2,300 warheads, and the Russian inventory is even lower. But Secretary Clinton and President Barack Obama are aiming for even greater reductions. How low are they willing to go? The Administration hasn't said--at least publicly. But, as with other Obama proposals, there are grave risks that may outweigh potential benefits.

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My Comment: Another must read post and commentary from "In From The Cold".

The reason why they are doing this is .... for the politics. Nothing more. And the Clintons are grandmasters at politics.

The greater concern is that military and defense policy .... including the future of America's strategic nuclear weapon's program .... is now out of the hands of the military and in the hands of political operatives and their masters. I can only assume that Leon Panetta's nomination to the Director's chair of the CIA is being done to produce the same result and intent.

This is troublesome to the extreme.

U.S. Security and Defense policies functioned best when it was treated as a joint venture. Both sides bringing their expertise and understanding to the table.

Sigh .... no more now.