Mattis: New nuclear missile a bargaining chip with Russia

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration’s proposal to add a sea-launched cruise missile to the US nuclear arsenal, criticized by some as overkill, is meant to provide new negotiating leverage to US diplomats trying to persuade Russia to end violations of a key arms control treaty, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says.

“The idea is, once again, to keep our negotiators negotiating from a position of strength,” Mattis tells a House Armed Services Committee hearing on the administration’s Nuclear Posture Review, which was released last week. The report proposes two new nuclear weapons: a sea-launched cruise missile and a lower-yield version of an existing ballistic missile.

Mattis links the cruise missile to Washington’s charge that Russia has been violating the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty by developing and deploying a ground-based cruise missile that is banned by the treaty. Russia denies the charge.

“I don’t think the Russians would be willing to give up something to gain nothing from us,” he says, suggesting the cruise missile is a bargaining chip. Pressed to say whether the US would, in fact, abandon the sea-launched cruise missile if the Russians return to treaty compliance, Mattis dodges. “I don’t want to say in advance of a negotiation.”

— AP