Shaheen Statement on Trump Admin’s Withdrawal from “Open Skies” Arms Control Agreement

(Washington, DC) – U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), a senior member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, issued the following statement in response to the Trump administration’s announcement that it will withdraw the United States from the Open Skies Treaty, a reconnaissance treaty negotiated in 1992 to allow participating nations to perform flyovers to collect data and verify military action is not imminent. 

“President Trump is barreling down a path that ultimately makes us less secure and cedes U.S. global leadership,” said Shaheen. “The dangerous and misguided decision to abandon this international agreement cripples our ability to conduct aerial surveillance of Russia, while allowing Russian reconnaissance flights over U.S. bases in Europe to continue. The administration’s decision to withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty – and the uncertainty surrounding its commitment to New START – is very alarming. It betrays the transatlantic alliance. The Open Skies Treaty is part of an overlapping arms control framework that has helped maintain and promote global stability for thirty years, which is more important today than ever before. This reckless decision makes our world less safe and less secure, and I urge President Trump to reverse it.”