“….the most prudent course of action would be for the U.S. government to agree now to extend New START. Doing so would ensure that the existing caps on Russian long-range nuclear forces, and the associated transparency and verification provisions, would remain in place for an additional five years. It would also provide U.S. negotiators the time they need to conclude a new set of arms control measures to address concerns with both Russia’s and China’s nuclear capabilities and intentions.”

The report was published by RAND Project AIR FORCE (PAF), a division of the RAND Corporation, which is the U.S. Air Force’s federally funded research and development center for studies and analyses. A PDF of the full report is available here:

http://broadcaster.rand.org/t?ctl=26CE9:A6EAB5592D8DAA921CEF965CD16B1B11&

Jay Branegan is a Senior Fellow at The Lugar Center