Cheney, GOP colleagues concerned about U.S. commitment to ground-based missiles

U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and 10 other Republican lawmakers said Russia has again raised America’s use of intermediate-range missiles as a potential bargaining chip amid its renewed aggression in Ukraine and they asked President Joe Biden to explain whether the administration is considering re-imposing limits on U.S. ground-based missiles in Europe and the Indo-Pacific.

The members’ request follows a Feb. 4 joint statement issued by China and Russia calling on the U.S. to “abandon its plans to deploy intermediate-range and shorter-range ground-based missiles in the Asia-Pacific region and Europe,” according to a Feb. 10 letter they sent to President Joe Biden.

“We are gravely concerned that any attempt to resurrect the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty or reimpose limitations on ground-launched missiles would catastrophically undermine American national security, encourage Russian aggression, and advance a flawed view of security that sacrifices peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific,” Rep. Cheney and her colleagues wrote.

“Unfortunately, it is far from clear that this outrageous demand will be met with the outright dismissal that it deserves,” according to their letter, which was also signed by members including U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and U.S. Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), ranking member of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

The U.S. on Aug. 2, 2019, formally withdrew from the INF Treaty after Russia for years violated its commitments under the treaty. Consequently, ground-based missiles of all ranges have played a critical role in the nation’s future defense plans, including under the Biden administration, according to their letter. 

Rep. Cheney and her colleagues pointed out that extending any limitations on U.S. ground-based missiles in Europe and the Indo-Pacific would render inoperable the U.S. Marine Corps’ new Force Design, which depends on the ability of small teams of Marines to deploy long-range fires, and would cancel the U.S. Army’s top modernization priority.

“The consequences would be deadly. Without the ability to amass large numbers of distributed and affordable missiles, a future war in the IndoPacific would be over before it began,” they wrote. “It is not an exaggeration to say peace in the Indo-Pacific —  not to mention the lives of countless American service members — hangs in the balance.”

The members also noted that operational commanders are united behind the need for long-range fire capabilities, as is Gen. Tod Wolters of U.S. European Command, according to testimony he gave before the U.S. House Armed Services Committee in April 2021. And a January 2020 bipartisan report from the Center for a New American Security concurs, finding that the U.S. must “develop and deploy mobile and relocatable land-based launchers for long-range cruise, ballistic, and hypersonic weapons in the Indo-Pacific,” according to their letter.

“In light of this broad and bipartisan support for ground-based missiles, it is unconscionable that your administration may be considering re-imposing limits on American ground-based missiles,” wrote Cheney and her colleagues. “Given Russia’s extensive track record of cheating on its INF Treaty commitments, there is zero — repeat zero — reason to expect Russia would comply with a new agreement. As a result, any future bilateral limitations would in practice represent unilateral disarmament.” 

The representatives requested that Biden answer several questions, including what evidence exists that Russia would abide to a follow-on agreement; if Russia did agree to geographical limitations on ground-launched missiles, what verification and compliance measures would be proposed to monitor and enforce such an agreement; and whether Russia would be required to verifiably eliminate its INF-range missiles, launchers and other associated equipment, among others.