The New START Treaty: Signed
President Barack Obama signs the New START Treaty in the Oval Office, Feb. 2, 2011. Participants include, from left: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen; Energy Secretary Steven Chu; Defense Secretary Robert Gates; Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton; Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.; Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind.; Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss.; Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.; and Vice President Joe Biden.
Today the President signed a landmark nuclear arms treaty with Russia, New START. As the President said during the end of the last Congress, the treaty is "a national security imperative" as well as "a cornerstone of our relations with Russia" as we continue to work with them on everything from Iran to Afghanistan. With the Senate having approved the treaty with a strong bipartisan vote late last year, today's signing marks a final step inthe process. That process began when President Obama and President Medvedevinitially signed the agreementin Prague last April, a fitting location given that one year before that President Obama had been there fora major speechcommiting to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.
You can read the Treaty (pdf)and Protocol (pdf) themselves, but here's a quick overview from our fact sheet at the time:
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Fuente: White House.gov Blog Feed
