Obama lies again – plans to close ICBM Squadron

What could go wrong with this? Despite Promises, Obama Planning to Close ICBM Squadron is the headline.  As China goes on a military spending spree, and the good times with Putin have gone south, Obama plans to take full advantage of the treaty to leave us as vulnerable as possible. Let’s keep these Senators in our scope for defeat Vote tally Count Cloture Senate START Treaty APPROVED!

First, dismantle our top military Obama gets rid of more Generals  and then the “tell” came last month:

Tim Giardina, 3-Star Navy Admiral, Fired As No. 2 Commander Of U.S. Nuclear Forces. Read more then

Top nuclear missile commanders fired

It was on its face disturbing, even shocking news – two military officials in charge of the nation’s nuclear arsenal sacked within days of each other.

But Major General Michael Carey and Vice Admiral Tim Giardina (fired amidst rumors of misbehavior involving alcohol and gambling) are just the latest in a recent rash of firings in the military’s top ranks.

The firings come as leadership in the military try to send a message of “zero tolerance” when it comes to bad behavior.

The military has been here before – last fall a string of incidents involving improper behavior among top brass resulted in then Defense Secretary Leon Panetta ordering a review of ethics standards.

Washington Free Beacon:

The Obama administration has drafted a plan to shutter an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) squadron three years after it assured hesitant lawmakers that the New START U.S.-Russia arms reduction treaty would not lead to deep cuts in the ICBM force.

The administration’s plan would also shrink the ICBM force below the mandated numbers. The Air Force previously said it planned to reduce its number of ICBMs from 450 to a baseline of 420 under New START

A new timeline prepared by the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and obtained by the Washington Free Beacon maps out a strategy to eliminate an ICBM squadron—and destroy its missile silos—by Dec. 5, 2017.

“There was some talk around this town about making deep reductions to the ICBM force,” Baucus said in the press release. “We made it clear to the president that was unacceptable, and fought hard to make sure the START Treaty recognized the critical role that ICBMs play in U.S. national security.”

Analysts say they are particularly troubled by the proposed destruction of the missile silos, a likely permanent move that is not required by New START. They say the silos would be difficult to rebuild if the military needs to bolster its ICBM force in the future.

“If you destroy the silos, it would be much harder to rebuild them […] and very politically difficult,” said Michaela Dodge, a defense analyst at the Heritage Foundation.

Shutting down a squadron would eliminate 50 ICBMs, 66 percent more than the prior Air Force proposal.

The ICBM coalition introduced an amendment on Friday that would block the administration from destroying emptied ICBM silos.

Defense experts say the proposed eliminations would be detrimental to U.S. national security.

“We see that Russia is modernizing and building up its nuclear weapons program; we don’t have that good of an understanding of how many weapons China has; we had recently a North Korea nuclear weapons test,” Dodge said. “So international trends are against us and we are sending the wrong signal by continuing reduction despite these international developments.” More at Washington Free Beacon

President Barack Obama signs the instrument of ratification of the New START Treaty in the Oval Office, Feb. 2, 2011. Participants include, from left: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen; Energy Secretary Steven Chu; Defense Secretary Robert Gates; Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton; Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.; Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind.; Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss.; Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.; and Vice President Joe Biden. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

White House:

You can read the Treaty (pdf) and Protocol (pdf) themselves, but here’s a quick overview from our fact sheet at the time:

Strategic Offensive Reductions:  Under the Treaty, the U.S. and Russia will be limited to significantly fewer strategic arms within seven years from the date the Treaty enters into force.  Each Party has the flexibility to determine for itself the structure of its strategic forces within the aggregate limits of the Treaty.  These limits are based on a rigorous analysis conducted by Department of Defense planners in support of the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review.