The New START Treaty isn't just about a bilateral arrangement with Russians to keep their and our nuclear warheads under tight management. It is really about momentum in reversing the dramatic erosion of controls on a whole range of WMD materials.
If the US does not move START forward and validate so much of the progress that the Nunn-Lugar program has made in decommissioning nukes and getting dangerous materials under control, then those trigger devices and uranium and other paraphernalia become vulnerable to "hijacking" by non-state interests. Very dangerous.
And yet US Senator Bob Corker who had signed on to support START -- to put America's safety at the forefront of his and his constituency's concerns -- is now saying that he's going to drop out and risk putting nukes out into the world untethered and subject to corruption and penetration by terrorist groups because he wants to make sure that US military men and women -- who are gay and serving -- have to continue to lie and deceive about their status.
His price for securing America's national security: bigotry.
Bad move, Senator Corker.
-- Steve Clemons publishes the popular political blog, The Washington Note. Clemons can be followed on Twitter @SCClemons