1、Author Date As one of its very first acts in the realm of national security affairs,the Biden Administration extended the New START Treaty of 2010 which was set to expire on February 5,2021.The unconditional extension of the treaty for five years was agreed with the government of the Russian Federat
2、ion despite earlier calls by some experts,including the current Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs,Victoria Nuland,for a shorter extension conditioned on Russia engaging in good faith negotiations on future arms control measures,including those covering those elements of its nuclear forc
3、es not covered by the Treaty like so-called non-strategic nuclear weapons and some of the new exotic nuclear weapons that President Putin has announced in recent years.As Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell has noted,“President Biden agreed to Russian requests for a full five-year extension of th
4、e New START Treaty,no strings attached.He gave it up for free,undermining our leverage to extract concessions in future negotiations.”1 Nonetheless,the sigh of relief from advocates of arms control after the New START Treaty renewal was audible.In the wake of the Trump Administrations withdrawal fro
