The US-Soviet Strategic Arms Reduction Talks: Status and Major Issues

This chapter will address the status of the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START) as of late September 1989. It will discuss the specific weapon limits and the verification measures that have been agreed by the United States and the Soviet Union. It will also address the key outstanding issues that remain regarding limits that are yet to be worked out and a number of problems to be solved in verification. It will then describe the US policy debate on a number of START-related issues. Finally the author will offer some personal observations on START.1