News release: “Today the President submitted the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) – an arms control agreement with Russia that he signed last month in Prague — to the United States Senate. Before the Treaty can be ratified, the Senate must provide its advice and consent by a two-thirds majority…In addition to the Treaty, the President also sent a report to Congress required by last year’s National Defense Authorization Act on our plan to modernize our nuclear weapons complex and the strategic systems used to deliver nuclear weapons (long-range missiles and bombers) over the next decade. This plan will include a projection for the funds needed over the next ten years to meet these modernization requirements. The report is largely classified, but because of the public’s interest in the issue, we are releasing an unclassified summary that highlights how we plan to reduce our forces but maintain a nuclear triad (land- and sea-based ballistic missiles and long-range bombers) under the Treaty. The U.S. military strongly favors the Treaty in large part because it allows the United States significant flexibility in how we structure and deploy our nuclear forces – including retaining this triad – to meet nuclear deterrence requirements.”

• The President’s message to the Senate
• Fact Sheet on the “1251 report,” and
• Key quotations on the New START Treaty
• See also CRS: Strategic Arms Control After START: Issues and Options – March 4, 2010
• CRS – The New START Treaty: Central Limits and
  Key Provisions, May 3, 2010