{"id":31053,"date":"2018-10-24T20:31:05","date_gmt":"2018-10-24T20:31:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2018\/10\/24\/dems-demand-answers-about-trump-plans-to-drop-nuclear-treaty-with-russia\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:34:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:34:06","slug":"dems-demand-answers-about-trump-plans-to-drop-nuclear-treaty-with-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2018\/10\/24\/dems-demand-answers-about-trump-plans-to-drop-nuclear-treaty-with-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrats demand answers about Trump plans to drop nuke treaty with Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Top Democrats on the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees are calling on the Trump administration to brief them on the president\u2019s plans to withdraw from the Reagan-era Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a letter <\/a>sent Wednesday to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the lawmakers warned that withdrawing from the INF Treaty and letting the 2010 New START<\/a> nuclear arms reduction treaty lapse \u201cwould be short-sighted and detrimental to national security.\u201d They asked that Mattis and Pompeo brief the committees the week of Nov. 13, when Congress returns from recess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe write to express our grave concern that the Trump Administration is notifying Russia that the United States intends to unilaterally withdraw from [INF], without any notice to or consulting with Congress,\u201d write House Armed Services Committee ranking member Adam Smith, D-Wash.; House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., and Europe and Eurasia subcommittee ranking member Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Separately, the Senate Armed Services Committee\u2019s ranking member, Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., called<\/a> the INF withdrawal \u201can unforced error that plays into Russian hands and fragments NATO unity.\u201d He also raised fears it would set the stage for a withdrawal from the New START, set to expire in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Donald Trump announced over the weekend his intention to abandon the INF Treaty (which covers ground-launched midrange missiles), and his national security adviser, John Bolton, said the administration was \u201ccurrently considering\u201d its position on New START, which the U.S. and Russia could agree to extend another five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[Russian President Vladimir] Putin has long wanted to end this treaty, but didn\u2019t want to be the one to walk away,\u201d Reed said in a statement Wednesday. \u201cIt is troubling that President Trump is doing it for him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t