To hear some critics describe it, the U.S. withdrawal from the INF Treaty is a disaster in the making. “Dangerous, destabilizing and potentially counterproductive,” in the words of John McLaughlin, deputy CIA director from 2000 to 2004. Pulling out will “cause new tensions with European allies,” The New York Times opines. Adds the Stimson Center’s Michael Krepon in Forbes: “A new arms competition now beckons.” Really? Let’s consider a few pertinent facts.
“Disarmament … is a continuing imperative.”That public statement is not from an ideologue on the left, but rather President Dwight D. Eisenhower in his farewell address.
Reductions are desirable, but efforts to outlaw all nuclear weapons are fundamentally flawed. Destroying all known nuclear weapons would provide a decisive advantage to any power which decided – openly or secretly – to hold back even a few. Verification remains vexing.