Highly capable theater missile defenses and the ABM Treaty

Since 1972 the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty has been one of the fundamental building blocks of U.S.-Soviet and U.S.-Russian arms control efforts. By severely restricting the deployment of defensive systems that could undermine deterrent capabilities, the ABM Treaty removed a potential incentive to increase strategic nuclear forces and allowed substantial force reductions to be negotiated in the START I and II agreements. Although the Cold War has ended, the treaty may still have important roles today and in the future. In particular, future deep reductions in U.S. and Russian strategic forces, as well as in the nuclear forces of other countries, may be impossible without the assurance granted by the treaty.