Arms control diplomacy is, like many other areas of government policy-making, hard to understand without experiencing directly. How defense strategy, political science, technology, and area studies combine with personalities, time pressure, and interagency tensions is difficult to describe - but these elements collide together in a highly concentrated fashion during an arms control negotiation. Greg Dwyer and Mike Albertson both served on the New START delegation at different points in their careers, and shared their experiences in part II of our New START series. Both spent time early in their careers “backbenching” the treaty negotiations in Geneva, and then carried leadership responsibilities on behalf of their agencies as part of the regular New START delegation that would travel to Geneva to engage in implementation discussions with Russian counterparts in the Bilateral Consultative Commission, a body created by the Treaty to ensure both parties had a venue to raise and address implementation and compliance questions.

We all worked together on New START, so there is a fair amount of reminiscing in this episode, but Greg and Mike also provide a detailed glimpse into the work that goes on behind the scenes in arms control negotiation and implementation. I hope young professionals wondering what it’s like to work in this field take particular interest in this episode. As always, please feel free to send comments or question our way here or in the subscriber chat.

Background reading (stuff I haven’t shared in previous posts, but seem pertinent to New START expiration).

* I really hope DoW doesn’t get rid of this resource - a searchable treaty text with can help you go down a few of the rabbit holes we referenced during the podcast.

* a 2024 RAND report on post-New START options.

* Erin Dumbacher’s recent CFR post on managing Putin’s offer to maintain New START limits.

* Frank Jones’ book “Obama on the Bomb,” covering New START and arms control efforts during the Obama administration.

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Intro/outro music licensed by Soundstripe: “The Iron Curtain” by Wicked Cinema.

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