Following on the New START treaty recently brought into force, Global Zero calls for the United States and Russia to begin comprehensive nuclear arms negotiations in early 2013 to reduce their arsenals to as low as 1,000 total weapons each, and, as part of these negotiations, to pursue the expedited removal of all of their tactical nuclear weapons from combat bases on the European continent to national storage facilities in the United States and Russia.
These comprehensive negotiations would, for the first time in history, include all non-strategic nuclear weapons (commonly referred to as tactical or sub-strategic nuclear weapons) and all non-deployed strategic weapons ("reserve" strategic vehicles and warheads in storage) in addition to the deployed strategic warheads and delivery vehicles that are constrained by New START. Including all types of nuclear weapons that have previously escaped limitation in arms negotiations would facilitate broad reductions, especially if each party is free to mix its holdings of strategic and tactical weapons in any proportion it desires. For example, one party may prefer to reduce strategic weapons, while the other prefers to reduce tactical weapons.
Once the United States and Russia commit to and begin these comprehensive bilateral talks for deep reductions in their stockpiles of tactical and strategic weapons, negotiators should, as part of these negotiations, pursue agreement on the expedited removal of all American tactical nuclear weapons from operational combat bases in Europe to national storage facilities on U.S. territory, and all Russian tactical weapons from their European combat bases to their national storage facilities (so-called "S" sites), and on further constraints on the operational status of the weapons. These weapons have virtually no military utility and incur financial costs and security risks, including terrorist capture, as well as creating political friction between NATO and Russia.
The reductions to 1,000 total weapons each would create the conditions for the next critical step: bringing China and other nuclear weapons countries into the first in history multilateral nuclear arms negotiations. Under the Global Zero plan, preparatory multilateral discussions that increase transparency of weapons numbers, types and locations should be conducted in 2012-13, with the goal of launching formal multilateral negotiations in 2014. In conducting the bilateral negotiations, the United States and Russia should consult with other key nuclear countries to determine what level of cuts, changes in force posture, and confidence-building steps would facilitate others joining the multilateral negotiations to follow.
In preparation for the comprehensive bilateral negotiations, we recommend that the United States and Russia take measures to reduce the role and threat projected by tactical nuclear weapons in Europe, including increasing transparency and codifying existing operational practices in which tactical nuclear weapons are normally kept in storage (national- or service-level storage) and de-mated from their delivery vehicles. A standing consultative commission modeled after the Special Consultative Group during the INF negotiations in the 1980s would be established for the United States to brief and consult with members of the NATO Alliance as the talks progressed.
The United States and Russia would exchange information about the numbers, location and types of tactical nuclear weapons – and share this data with others (e.g., NATO and Russia’s Collective Security Treaty allies) as allowed by their transparency agreement. Mutual verification of these declarations, as well as confirmation that the weapons remained off of their delivery vehicles, should be allowed through visits and inspections at the military bases associated with nuclear deployments, as well as to the storage facilities. The United States and Russia would also exchange data about the implementation of the reductions announced in the 1991 presidential nuclear initiatives, including data on when those weapons were eliminated. These steps would help to prepare the United States and Russia for bilateral and follow-on multilateral nuclear arms negotiations.
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