First Cuts in U.S. Submarines’ Nuclear Missiles Considered

The United States is discussing with Russia a reduction in long-range nuclear weapons that would include the first-ever cuts in the vaunted American submarine missile force, sources familiar with arms initiatives said Wednesday night.

The U.S. initiative, which is still being worked out, could result in scrapping up to about one-fifth of the long-range nuclear arsenal that would be left under the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START.

The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Secretary of State James A. Baker III broached the idea with leaders of the Russian republic on his trip to Moscow last month. Russia is inheriting much of the former Soviet Union’s nuclear strength.

President Bush is likely to discuss the plan in his State of the Union address Tuesday, the sources said.

The proposal involves a ban on land-based, long-range nuclear missiles with more than one warhead, coupled with an overall reduction in all strategic weapons, including the size and number of warheads carried on U.S. nuclear submarines. That would include the Minuteman III and MX missiles.

Last September, Bush proposed a ban on land-based multiple-warhead missiles, but he did not call for an overall reduction in the total number of strategic warheads based on land, in the air and at sea. He also carefully excluded the Navy’s nuclear force from his proposition. But now, the sources said, Bush is willing to make the first reduction in the submarine force.