Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said Monday the United States should work to preserve the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with Russia while taking concrete steps to develop military capabilities similar to those prohibited by the accord, as covered in the House and Senate versions of the fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
“For the time being, it’s probably best to try to preserve the INF Treaty, but only if Russia comes back into compliance promptly and verifiably,” Cotton said Monday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The only way to save the agreement, Cotton said, “is to show the Russians that we will walk away from it if they don’t come back into compliance.”
The INF Treaty prohibits U.S. and Russian land-based missiles with flight ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers. U.S. officials have determined Russia has been in violation of the treaty for years, first by testing a cruise missile with a banned flight range and now by deploying it.
Cotton in February introduced legislation intended to press Russia to return to compliance with the treaty while directing the Pentagon to begin developing similar missile systems. A House version of the bill was also introduced at that time. The Senate bill is currently with the body’s Foreign Relations Committee, while the House version is in the chamber’s Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee.
The bills outline possible steps such as establishing a program of record for a dual-capable, road-mobile ground-launched missile system within INF range; pursuing additional missile defense assets; facilitating the transfer of INF-range systems to allies; and limiting funding for extension of the bilateral New START treaty until Russia returns to INF compliance.
The INF Treaty does not prohibit research and development of intermediate-range systems, which means the Pentagon can look into improving or extending the range of existing missiles. One such example, Cotton suggested, is development of a land-based version of the Tomahawk long-range cruise missile, which is currently launched from U.S. Navy ships. Raytheon [RTN] manufactures Tomahawk.
Cotton noted that the Senate version of the fiscal 2018 NDAA includes such a provision; the bill, released last week, would authorize $65 million for research and development of an INF-range missile.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives on Friday passed its version of the NDAA, calling for establishment of a “program of record” for an INF-range system and conditioning U.S. adherence to the treaty on Russia’s own compliance.
However, the White House said last week in a policy statement on the House NDAA that it opposes any position that would limit its military response options to Russia’s violation, calling instead for research and development of missile systems, as outlined in the Senate bill.
Asked about the White House’s position, Cotton said Monday that “the statement of administration policy was crafted by Obama-era bureaucrats at the State and Defense departments. I cannot imagine that when we pass this legislation, that the president will oppose it, that [National Security Adviser] H.R. McMaster will recommend that he veto it.”
The split between the House and Senate versions will need to be reconciled before the final bill is sent to the president for his signature.