New START and the 21st Century Nuclear Threat

by Ambassador Nancy Soderberg

from the McClatchey-Tribune News Service

It is time for the U.S. Senate to abandon the
Cold War and support a nuclear security agenda designed for the 21st
century. Nothing underscores the rift in generational thinking more than
the debate taking shape in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee over
whether to ratify the New START treaty.

At its core, the debate is not between liberals
and conservatives but between those who understand that the world of
nuclear weapons has changed dramatically and those who still view
national security through a pre-9/11, Cold War lens. Whether the Senate
ratifies the New START agreement signed by Presidents Barack Obama and
Dmitry Medvedev on April 8 will be a key test of whether the Senate has
made the shift.

To read the rest of the article, click here.

~Nancy E. Soderberg is a former ambassador to the United Nations and
deputy national security adviser from 1993 to 1997. She is currently
president of the Connect U.S. Fund. Ambassador Soderberg gave a presentation to the Iowa City Foreign Relations Council on September 22, 2009. Click here to view a video recording of that presentation.