Clinton hasn’t yet signed off on the idea, but administration sources say that his top advisers are urging him to go for it. The reason? The advisers worry that there will be a barrage of criticism from the left when the Pentagon unveils the results of its “Strategic Posture Review,” a yearlong study of the U.S. nuclear arsenal in the wake of the cold war. It has been widely expected that the review would propose deep cuts, but Pentagon sources say it calls for only marginal changes in the arsenal, largely for cost-cutting purposes.
Among the proposals:
reduce the Trident missile submarine fleet to 14 from 18.
scrap 150 Minuteman-3 ICBMs
cut the B-1 bomber fleet by 26
The outcome of the cuts: a reduction of U.S. strategic warheads to 3,000 from 3,500. That’s why Clinton’s advisers are proposing the deal with Yeltsin. They want to give Clinton political cover by dressing up the review in a new offer of arms talks with the Russians.
