Reducing Nukes: Russia and the U.S. Resume an Intricate Dance

The primary stumbling block to START negotiations has been a disagreement on how to even measure a reduction in nuclear weapons, arms-control experts say. Long-range nuclear missiles and bombers have the capacity to carry multiple, independently targeted weapons. So the question is, should a treaty limit the number of delivery vehicles available to each country, the number of actual warheads or both?  "This is a very important issue and one, I suspect, that has been the biggest cause of delays," says Hans Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists, a Ploughshares Fund grantee. "We don't want Russian war planners deciding to put as many warheads as possible on their delivery vehicles — that is not a crisis-stable situation. It provides an incentive to launch first."