Arms Control

SALT I (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) with the USSR
Part 1: ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missiles) Treaty
Part 2: Interim Agreement
Concluded in 1972 under the direction of President Nixon and National Security Advisor H. Kissinger

ABM Treaty reviewed in 1977—no amendments.
Interim Agreement did not ban MIRVs (Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicles). Agreement expired October 3, 1977.

SALT II
Begun in November 1972. In November 1974, President Gerald Ford and Leonid Brezhnev agreed on basic guidelines for the SALT II Treaty in Vladivostok, Russia. Treaty completed and signed by Presidents J. Carter and L. Brezhnev in Vienna, 1979. Treaty was to be in effect through 1985. Treaty limited ICBMs (Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles) and SLBMs (Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missiles) and Heavy Bombers to 2,250.

START (Strategic Arms Reduction Talks)
Name change from SALT to START initiated in 1982.

CTB (Comprehensive Test Ban Negotiations)
Initiated in 1978. Reagan Administration suspended these negotiations.

INF (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces) Treaty
Initiated in 1981. Talks between USA and USSR on limiteing intermediate-range missiles in Europe.

CTBT (Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty)
This treaty seeks to end all nulcear weapons tests. Related to the CTBT and in effect in 1986:

Limited Test Ban Treaty, 1963: Banned nuclear weapons tests in the atmosphere, outer space, and under water
Threshold Test Ban Treaty, 1974: Limited the yield of underground Russian and US nuclear weapons tests to 150 kilotons
Peaceful Nuclear Explosions Treaty, 1976: Complements the 1974 treaty and limits group explosions to a total yield of 1,500 kilotons.

CTBT, 1992
Entered into by 44 nuclear-capable countries. Ratified by 26 countries, 15 countries (among them the US and Russia) signed, but not ratified, and three countries (India, North Korea, and Pakistan) have not even signed.
November 1999, the US senate would not ratify this treaty. Treaty lost 48–51, NM Senator Bingaman voting for it, NM Senator Domenici voting against. Sandia Labs president Paul Robinson spoke against it.

ABM Treaty
In effect since 1972 (see above). In October 1999, the US wanted to renegotiate the treaty, which limits deployment of anti-ballistic missile defenses, so that the US can add new missile defenses in Alaska to block possible attacks by "rogue" nations such as Iran or North Korea. Russia refuses to agree, even though the US has been offering to help finish a major Russian radar installation near Irkutsk, Siberia, if the Russians would only agree to the amendment.
Negotiations about the treaty inconclusive, December 1999.
Negotiations in Geneva about the treaty inconclusive, January 2000.

START I (Strategic Arms Reduction Talks), initiated in 1991.
Treaty limits strategic nuclear warheads on each side (US and Russia ) to between 3,000 and 3,500. Signed by Presidents Bush and Yeltsin in Moscow. Treaty brought into force afer Summit meeting in Budapest between President Clinton and the leaders of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine in 1994.

START II, initiated in 1993.
Treat on further reduction and limitation of strategic arms, specifically calls for elimination of MIRVed ICBMs. Ratified by US Senate in 1996. russia has not ratified the treaty (as of January 2000).

START III, initiated in 1994.
Treaty on even further reduction and limitation of strategic nuclear arms. Arsenas would be cut t0 between 2,000 and 2,500 warheads each. Some negotiations conducted in 1999 were highly inconclusive since Russia would not ratify START II.

SORT (Treaty on Strategic Offensive Reductions), 2002.
A treaty between Russia and the United States limiting their nuclear arsenal to 1700-2200 operationally deployed warheads each. It was signed in Moscow on May 24, 2002.