AJC Praises Senate Ratification of New START Treaty

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Dec 22, 2010, 05:03 ET

NEW YORK, Dec. 22, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC applauded today's U.S. Senate ratification, by a vote of 71 to 26, of the New START treaty.

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"The New START treaty serves America's highest strategic interests," said AJC Executive Director David Harris.

The treaty provides for resuming critical nuclear inspection programs that had been in place since the end of the Cold War, but ceased with the December 2009 expiration of the first START treaty.

AJC supported New START and in letters to all U.S. Senators had urged its ratification.

In addition to resuming nuclear-facility verification mechanisms and reducing U.S. and Russian nuclear stockpiles, New START opens a new chapter in U.S.-Russian cooperation on a range of strategic threats, notably Iran's nuclear program.

"Russia is central to U.S.-led efforts to exert maximum international economic and political pressure on Iran to thwart its dangerous nuclear ambitions," said Harris.

SOURCE American Jewish Committee