Lawfare Daily: The End of New START? With John Drennan and Matthew Sharp

The Lawfare Podcast

The Lawfare Institute

International Law, Government, Military, Rule Of Law, International Relations, History, News, Terrorism, Politics, Law, Intelligence, National Security, Foreign Policy, Constitutional Law, Diplomacy, Current Events

4.7 • 6.4K Ratings

🗓️ 4 December 2025

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

New START, the last bilateral nuclear arms control treaty between the United States and Russia, will expire in February 2026 if Washington and Moscow do not reach an understanding on its extension—as they have signaled they are interested to do. What would the end of New START mean for U.S.-Russia relations and the arms control architecture that had for decades contributed to stability among great powers?

Lawfare Public Service Fellow Ariane Tabatabai sits down with John Drennan, Robert A. Belfer International Affairs Fellow in European Security, at the Council on Foreign Relations, and Matthew Sharp, Fellow at MIT’s Center for Nuclear Security Policy, to discuss what New START is, the implications of its expiration, and where the arms control regime might go from here.

For further reading, see:

“Putin’s Nuclear Offer: How to Navigate a New START Extension,” by John Drennan and Erin D. Dumbacher, Council on Foreign Relations
“No New START: Renewing the U.S.-Russian Deal Won’t Solve Today’s Nuclear Dilemmas,” by Eric S. Edelman and Franklin C. Miller, Foreign Affairs
“2024 Report to Congress on Implementation of the New START Treaty,” from the Bureau of Arms Control, Deterrence, and Stability, U.S. Department of State

To receive ad-free podcasts, become a Lawfare Material Supporter at www.patreon.com/lawfare. You can also support Lawfare by making a one-time donation at https://givebutter.com/lawfare-institute.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Nearly every news alert in 2025 has raised questions, some old, some new, about the law and national security.
0:07.5	And now you get the chance to ask Lawfare directly. It's time for our annual Ask Us Anything Mailbag podcast, an opportunity for you to ask Lawfare this year's most burning questions.
0:18.3	You can submit your question by leaving a voicemail at 202-643-8474. Or by sending a
0:27.7	recording of yourself asking your question to Ask Us Anything Lawfare at gmail.com by December 16th.
0:38.3	The U.S. government has pointed both in the context of New Start to questions around, you know, how close Russia is to the limit, have they gone over.
0:47.8	And so I think if the U.S. is considering accepting this, it has to come with some sort of counteroffer that includes, to the extent possible,
0:54.3	a way to kind of verify what the Russians are saying around adherence to these central limits.
1:00.5	It's the Lawfare podcast. I'm Ariane Tabatabai, Public Service Fellow at Lawfare, with John Drennan,
1:06.5	Robert A. Belfer International Affairs Fellow in European Security at the Council on Foreign
1:10.9	Relations and Matthew Sharp, fellow at MIT Center for Nuclear Security Policy.
1:15.6	I would point out that the question that's on the table here, right, has like all the
1:19.9	makings of great television. We've got like a deadline, good guys and bad guys, weighty decisions
1:25.3	that are both important in security terms, but also that can be
1:29.2	made by the president alone. And so I do feel like an element that maybe shouldn't be part
1:34.9	of the discussion, but might well anyway, will be just how does this narrative play out publicly
1:39.6	and domestically in terms of the ability of the president to sort of resolve a crisis in a very
1:45.5	visible way. Today, we're talking about Newstart, the last standing bilateral U.S.
1:50.1	Russia nuclear arms control treaty, which is set to expire in February.
1:56.6	Okay, we're recording this on Tuesday, November 25th. And John, I'd like to start with you.
2:02.8	Can you tell us a little bit about what folks should know about New Start and outline some of its key provisions?
2:09.0	What does the treaty do?
2:10.8	Yeah, absolutely. And so New Start is the last remaining strategic nuclear arms control treaty between the United States and Russia.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Lawfare Institute, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Lawfare Institute and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.