Message on the Senate Transmitting the Treaty Between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms

To the Senate of the United States:

With a view to receiving the advice and consent of the Senate to ratification, I transmit herewith the Treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms, signed in Prague on April 8, 2010, with Protocol. The Protocol is an integral part of the Treaty and contains three Annexes. I also transmit, for the information of the Senate, the report of the Department of State and three unilateral statements associated with the Treaty. These unilateral statements are not legally binding and are not integral parts of the Treaty. The Department of State report includes a detailed article-by-article analysis of the Treaty, as well as an analysis of the unilateral statements.

The Treaty will enhance the national security of the United States. It mandates mutual reductions and limitations on the world's two largest nuclear arsenals. The Treaty will promote transparency and predictability in the strategic relationship between the United States and the Russian Federation and will enable each Party to verify that the other Party is complying with its obligations through a regime that includes on-site inspections, notifications, a comprehensive and continuing exchange of data regarding strategic offensive arms, and provisions for the use of national technical means of verification. The Treaty further includes detailed procedures for the conversion or elimination of Treaty-accountable items, and provides for the exchange of certain telemetric information on selected ballistic missile launches for increased transparency.

Additionally, the Treaty creates a Bilateral Consultative Commission that will meet regularly to promote effective implementation of the Treaty regime. This Commission will provide an important channel for communication between the United States and the Russian Federation regarding the Treaty's implementation.

The United States will continue to maintain a strong nuclear deterrent under this Treaty, as validated by the Department of Defense through rigorous analysis in the Nuclear Posture Review. The Treaty preserves our ability to determine for ourselves the composition and structure of our strategic forces within the Treaty's overall limits, and to modernize those forces. The Treaty does not contain any constraints on testing, development, or deployment of current or planned U.S. missile defense programs or current or planned U.S. long-range conventional strike capabilities.

The Treaty, upon its entry into force, will supersede the Treaty Between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on Strategic Offensive Reductions, signed in Moscow on May 24, 2002.

I urge the Senate to give early and favorable consideration to the Treaty, including its Protocol, and to give its advice and consent to ratification.

BARACK OBAMA

The White House,

May 13, 2010.