With the US withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002, and President Trump's scrapping of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty last August, the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty is now the last major nuclear arms treaty in force. Moscow has warned that a failure to renew the treaty could spark a new global arms race.
President Donald Trump has named Bush-era torture proponent and sanctions cheerleader Marshall Billingslea as his new special envoy on arms control, less than ten months ahead of the expiration of the New START treaty, the White House confirmed in a press statement on Friday.
Washington has dragged its feet on holding negotiations to extend the treaty, which will expire next February unless prolonged, with US officials suggesting that the treaty should be modified to accommodate Russia's new hypersonic missile systems, and China's nuclear arsenal. Moscow and Beijing have each rejected such proposals, although Russian officials have maintained their commitment to start talks immediately and without preconditions.
He has also courted controversy over his association with the Bush administration's ‘enhanced interrogation techniques' (i.e. torture) policies following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Trump reportedly tapped Billingslea for the arms talks envoy job in early March, after his nomination for undersecretary for civilian security democracy and human rights…