To Ratify or Not to Ratify?

It looks as if Ronald Reagan will sign an arms-control deal with the Soviets this year, one that would eliminate short-and intermediate-range nuclear missiles from Europe. But it is less certain that the Senate will ratify such a treaty before Reagan’s term is over.

Fifteen years have elapsed since the Senate ratified a weapons treaty. “It may languish in the Armed Services Committee the way SALT II did in ’79,” says the Heritage Foundation’s national-security analyst, Jim Hackett. “You can’t verify small, mobile missiles—either the existence or the number of them.”

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John McLaughlin

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It looks as if Ronald Reagan will sign an arms-control deal with the Soviets this year, one that would eliminate short-and intermediate-range nuclear missiles from Europe. But it is less certain that the Senate will ratify such a treaty before Reagan’s term is over.

Fifteen years have elapsed since the Senate ratified a weapons treaty. “It may languish in the Armed Services Committee the way SALT II did in ’79,” says the Heritage Foundation’s national-security analyst, Jim Hackett. “You can’t verify small, mobile missiles—either the existence or the number of them.”