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Trump's cluelessness over START Nuclear Treaty makes nation "vulnerable to missteps"
Trump's Doubts and Ignorance on Nuclear Treaty Worry Experts
On a call with the Russian president, Trump reportedly had to ask aides what the New START treaty was.
AJ VICENSFEB. 9, 2017 4:57 PM
President Donald Trump's apparent ignorance and skepticism of a key nuclear arms reduction treaty between the US and Russia have nuclear arms experts concerned about the country's vulnerability on one of its most important national security issues.
According to a report Thursday from Reuters, when Russian President Vladimir Putin brought up the 2010 New START treaty on a recent call with Trump, the American president had to ask his aides what the treaty was. He then expressed doubts to Putin about extending the treaty, according to the report, and called it a bad deal.
"The Reuters report...suggests that he's extremely ill-informed about the most serious foreign policy, national security issues a president needs to know," says Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, a nonpartisan organization focused on arms control policy. "His cluelessness is dangerous in the sense that if he doesn't understand the risks of nuclear weapons and commonsense measures to reduce the risks, he is, and the nation is, vulnerable to missteps."
According to Reuters, during Trump's first call with Putin as president on January 28, Trump denounced New START as a bad deal for the United States and had to "ask his aides in an aside what the treaty was." The White House didn't comment for the story and referred Reuters to the public readout of the call, which makes no mention of discussions about nuclear weapons policy. White House press secretary Sean Spicer wouldn't comment on the story during Thursday's public press briefing and said the readout was the only resource the administration would make available.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/02/president-trumps-thoughts-key-nuclear-treaty-worries-experts
On a call with the Russian president, Trump reportedly had to ask aides what the New START treaty was.
AJ VICENSFEB. 9, 2017 4:57 PM
President Donald Trump's apparent ignorance and skepticism of a key nuclear arms reduction treaty between the US and Russia have nuclear arms experts concerned about the country's vulnerability on one of its most important national security issues.
According to a report Thursday from Reuters, when Russian President Vladimir Putin brought up the 2010 New START treaty on a recent call with Trump, the American president had to ask his aides what the treaty was. He then expressed doubts to Putin about extending the treaty, according to the report, and called it a bad deal.
"The Reuters report...suggests that he's extremely ill-informed about the most serious foreign policy, national security issues a president needs to know," says Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, a nonpartisan organization focused on arms control policy. "His cluelessness is dangerous in the sense that if he doesn't understand the risks of nuclear weapons and commonsense measures to reduce the risks, he is, and the nation is, vulnerable to missteps."
According to Reuters, during Trump's first call with Putin as president on January 28, Trump denounced New START as a bad deal for the United States and had to "ask his aides in an aside what the treaty was." The White House didn't comment for the story and referred Reuters to the public readout of the call, which makes no mention of discussions about nuclear weapons policy. White House press secretary Sean Spicer wouldn't comment on the story during Thursday's public press briefing and said the readout was the only resource the administration would make available.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/02/president-trumps-thoughts-key-nuclear-treaty-worries-experts
