WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is developing ways to bolster defenses in Europe to counter Russia's violation of a landmark arms control treaty, considered to be an "indirect threat" to the US, a senior Defense Department official told members of Congress Tuesday.
The response to Russian military actions includes "investments" — in 2017 and beyond — aimed at ensuring that Russia does not obtain a "significant military advantage," Brian McKeon, principal deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, told a joint hearing of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces subcommittee and the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade.Trade and Nonproliferation subcommittee.
"We continue to have a separate conversation with Russia about coming into compliance with the treaty," McKeon said. "They will see these activities, and they will see them in our budget. And they will start to understand, we believe, that this response is not making them any more secure."
The US announced last year that Russia is in violation of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which required the Soviet Union and the US to forswear all other nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometers.
In the contentious hearing, lawmakers said they have repeatedly pressured an Obama administration that has delayed its response to Russia's noncompliance. Though officials first raised the issue with Moscow in 2013, the noncompliance dates back to 2008.
"It seems like it's Groundhog Day," said Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, chairman of the Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade subcommittee. "Here we are again, and we all agree that Russia violated the treaty, but we're still talking about what the appropriate response should be."
Following Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, the Joint Staff conducted a military assessment of the threat posed by Russia if it were to deploy a ground-launched cruise missile in Europe or the Asia-Pacific. It concluded that deployment of such a system would increase risk to US allies and pose an "indirect threat" to the US, according to McKeon.
"The evidence is conclusive," he said. "Russia has tested this ground-based system well into ranges covered by the INF Treaty. We are talking about a real system and not a potential capability."
Officials offered a broad outline of the administration’s new actions are and what it will seek funding to implement. McKeon, who testified with Rose Gottemoeller, undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, promised to share more details with the lawmakers in a classified session that followed the public hearing.
In response to Russian aggression, the US has dedicated $1 billion in 2015 to support toward the presence of rotational forces in the Baltics and Central Europe., and it is It is also prepositioning tanks, artillery, infantry, fighting vehicles and other equipment in the three Baltic states, plus Bulgaria, Romania and Poland.
The US is working to modernize its nuclear arsenal, as well as to modify and expand air-defense systems (in part to, address cruise missiles).,and it Additionally, it is also investing in new unmanned systems, a long-range bomber and a new long-range standoff cruise missile. McKeon also pointed to the development of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II and B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb life-extension program.
"In confronting this challenge, we will take a strong and balanced approach," McKeon said. "We will not go back to the old Cold War playbook of having hundreds of thousands of forces in Europe. We are also mindful that we do not need to — nor should we return to — a world where we match every Russian action with a direct and mirror imaged reaction."
Strategic Forces Subcommittee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., evinced frustration that responses prepared last year were not executed and were now being rolled into the larger menu of options to counter Russia.
"That is a long-standing violation that needs an appropriate response by this nation, and it should not be impeded or blended in to any other concerns that we're having with Russia's new activity," Rogers said.
While officials were vague about the options available, Daniel Gouré, a national security and military analyst with the Lexington Institute, said the US could make a number of defensive moves without violating the treaty itself, including expanding the expansion of the US’ phased, adaptive approach to missile defense.
The US could restart its investment in the Standard Missile 3 Block 2B, meant to counter intercontinental ballistic missiles, or rejoin the get back involved with the Medium Extended Air Defense System program, a ground-mobile air and missile defense system intended to replace the Patriot missile system.
The US might also deploy several of the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor Systems, designed to track boats, ground vehicles and cruise missiles.
"If you're going to deploy cruise missiles against me, I'm going to deploy cruise missile defense — nothing illegal about that," Gouré said. "If the Russians back off, you can back off."
Email: jgould@defensenews.com
Twitter: @reporterjoe
Joe Gould was the senior Pentagon reporter for Defense News, covering the intersection of national security policy, politics and the defense industry. He had previously served as Congress reporter.
