Cruz: On the nomination of Rose Gottemoeller to be Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security
Given Ms. Gottemoeller’s track record of prioritizing getting a deal over defending our national security interests, this nomination poses an unacceptable risk in a dangerous time.
WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, today released the following statement opposing the nomination of Rose Gottemoeller to be Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security.
“The nomination of Rose Gottemoeller to be Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security is only the most recent manifestation of the backwards approach to foreign policy pursued by the Obama administration over the last five years,” Sen. Cruz said.
On Ms. Gottemoeller’s watch, the United States negotiated the New START treaty that went into effect in 2011 and will run until 2021. This treaty was unnecessarily rushed through a lame duck Congress in December, 2010 at the behest of then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who insisted “This is not an issue that can afford to be postponed” because New START would result in “stability, transparency, and predictability.” It would also be, Secretary Clinton claimed, “critical to our bilateral relationship with Russia. We have enhanced our cooperation to the benefit of our country on Iran, on Afghanistan, on nuclear nonproliferation, on counterterrorism, and on counternarcotics.
As it turns out, Secretary Clinton was wrong on all counts. The Senate should have been given adequate time to seriously review this treaty, which unnecessarily and arbitrarily limits our missile defense options—something that should not have been in the treaty in the first place and was only included either because the Russians took advantage of the American negotiators or because the Americans were eager to make these concessions. Extended debate might also have resulted in the very “transparency” Secretary Clinton claimed to be seeking—such the knowledge that Russia was already systematically violating the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Had the Senate had this information, it is highly unlikely the New START would have been ratified. Finally, given the shambles in which administration policy stands in terms of Iran and Afghanistan—but most glaringly in terms of the relationship with Russia itself—Secretary Clinton’s optimistic assessment of the New START appears to have had no sound basis.
Sen. Cruz continued, “Now President Obama proposes to recycle the failed negotiator from New START and put her in a position of considerable authority to manage our highly sensitive and adversarial relationships with both Russia and Iran. Given Ms. Gottemoeller’s track record of prioritizing getting a deal over defending our national security interests, this nomination poses an unacceptable risk in a dangerous time. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to unite in voting no on Rose Gottemoeller.”
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