SALT or Strategic Arms Limitations Talks/Treaty was a set of talks that ended up with two treaties agreed upon by both the US and the Soviet Union. During the late 1960s president Johnson proposed a meeting between the two nations due to the development of anti ballistic missile (ABM) defence systems in the Soviet Union. This was an issue because if one nation had the ability to destroy the other nation’s missiles before they hit the ground, the balance established by the idea of mutually assured destruction would be lost. At the end of the first talk, there was a treaty signed by both sides called the anti ballistic missile treaty. This treaty limited the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), and Submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) the US and the Soviet Union could have. This did not restrict the damage each individual warhead could do, only the number of individual missiles and MIRVs or Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicles (basicly one missile that splits into many missiles).
The second SALT treaty was proposed in 1972. The main purpose of this treaty was to limit the manufacturing of technologically advanced nuclear missiles. This treaty banned the creation of new nuclear warhead delivery systems. The treaty was signed by both sides in 1979, but was not ratified by the US senate because of the Soviet-Afghan war. Because of the United State’s refusal to ratify the treaty, the Soviet legislature also did not ratify the treaty. However, both sides adhered to the rules set forth by the treaty until 1985 when the treaty expired and was not renewed.
Agreeing to the terms at the negotiation table is one thing, but actually following the terms is another. This is why the two nations had a disagreement as to how one country verifies that the other country is following the rules of the treaty. They ended up agreeing on using National Technical Means (NTM). This was the first time the term NTM was used. It meant some kind of telemetry such as photoreconocence satellite systems to check and make sure both nations were following the rules of the treaty.
Sources:
Great post Nick. I think you did a great job of summarizing the proceedings of SALT. As I was reading, I was wondering how the treaties would have been enforced, so the bit at the end was very helpful. I think that the enforcement of treaties is an interesting topic throughout history. I am also curious as to how effective NTM was, and perhaps if either side was secretly violating the terms of the treaty?
ReplyDeleteThanks for writing this post clarifying what SALT was. I found it interesting how SALT II was not ratified by either the US Senate or Soviet legislature, but both sides still followed the terms up until it expired. Did the Senate not ratify it to show displeasure at the Soviet-Afghan war with the intention of following it or was this simply a gesture of goodwill between the two countries? I also found it strange that both sides would go through so much effort to negotiate the treaty without making sure it could be ratified first.
ReplyDelete