The Foreign Service Journal, May 2020

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MAY 2020 33 efore 2017, every U.S. president dating back to John F. Kennedy proposed and pur- sued negotiations with Moscow as a means to regulate destabilizing nuclear arms competi- tion and reduce the risk of the United States and its allies being destroyed in a nuclear war. With their diplomatic and mili- tary advisers, they sought and concluded a series of treaties, most with strong bipartisan support, that have made the United States and the world much safer, and reduced U.S. and Russian arse- nals by 85 percent fromCold War peaks. The current administration, however, is veer- ing off course from the approach to nuclear risk reduction and arms control pursued by previous Republican and Democratic administrations. Worse, President Donald Trump’s team has not presented a coherent alternative road map to reduce the threats posed by nuclear weapons. In this time of new strains in great-power relations, nuclear arms control agreements are an essential component of national security. n BY THOMAS COUNTRYMAN B FOCUS ON NUCLEAR DIPLOMACY BRIANHUBBLE Why Nuclear Arms Control Matters Today