Arms Control and the U.S.-Russian Relationship

Problems, Prospects, and Prescriptions

Task Force Report
Analysis and policy prescriptions of major foreign policy issues facing the United States, developed through private deliberations among a diverse and distinguished group of experts.

More on:

Nonproliferation, Arms Control, and Disarmament

Russia

Treaties and Agreements

Five years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States and Russia stand at a crossroads on arms control. Many of the arms control regimes established by Republican and Democratic administrations are under serious challenge in both countries, with the potential to damage U.S. security. With these concerns in mind, the Council on Foreign Relations and the Nixon Center for Peace and Freedom joined together to sponsor an independent Task Force on U.S.-Russian arms control. The Task Force brief was to assess current and evolving political-military circumstances and the arms control regimes, and to recommend a U.S. policy for the next twelve months. In effect, the Task Force was asked how Americans in particular should think about arms control in the wake of the Cold War's end and its importance, how to preserve what was worth preserving, and how to change what might need to be changed.

The Task Force’s assessment, while sober and clear-eyed throughout, is not pessimistic. Inherent in every prescription is the conviction that sustained, patient, and realistic American diplomacy—if consistently supported by attention from the highest levels of the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. government and of the governments of its allies and friends, and joined with responsible Russian authorities— can produce workable and timely solutions to the most important arms control issues.

More on:

Nonproliferation, Arms Control, and Disarmament

Russia

Treaties and Agreements

Task Force Members

Graham T. Allison, Jr.

Robert D. Blackwill

Barry M. Blechman

Richard R. Burt

Keith W. Dayton

Robert Ellsworth

Richard A. Falkenrath

Alton Frye

Lawrence Goldmuntz

Sidney N. Graybeal

Richard N. Haass

Morton H. Halperin

Arnold L. Horelick

Arnold Kanter

Steven E. Miller

Michael Moodie

Stanley R. Resor

John B. Rhinelander

Peter W. Rodman

Stephen R. Sestanovich

Dov S. Zakheim

Top Stories on CFR

United States

Each Friday, I look at what the presidential contenders are saying about foreign policy. This Week: Joe Biden doesn’t want one of America’s closest allies to buy a once iconic American company.

Immigration and Migration

Dara Lind, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the record surge in migrants and asylum seekers crossing the U.S. southern border.

Center for Preventive Action

Every January, CFR’s annual Preventive Priorities Survey analyzes the conflicts most likely to occur in the year ahead and measures their potential impact. For the first time, the survey anticipates that this year, 2024, the United States will contend not only with a slew of global threats, but also a high risk of upheaval within its own borders. Is the country prepared for the eruption of election-related instability at home while wars continue to rage abroad?