Senior House leader Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., says the White House is blocking the release of a Pentagon risk assessment report regarding Russia's alleged violation of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.
Rogers, chairman of the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee, said the report proposes potential responses to the breach and would help Congress address the problem in legislation, reported The Washington Free Beacon. The report was conducted by chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey, but the assessment somehow "seems to stay tied up in the White House," Rogers said.
"As we look to the near-term future, we need to consider how we're going to respond to Russia's INF violations," Rogers said on July 8 in an Air Force Association breakfast. "Congress will not continue to tolerate the administration dithering on this issue."
In July 2014, the U.S. government accused Russia of violating the agreement by flight-testing a new ground-launched cruise missile with a range prohibited by the treaty, which was signed during the cold war, reported BBC. The treaty bans flight-testing ground-launched ballistic or cruise missiles that have ranges between 310 miles and 3,418 miles.
The details of the violation have remained shrouded in secrecy and some critics in Congress maintain that the White House has covered up the violation for a few years, even during a debate on the 2010 New START arms treaty with Russia, according to the Beacon.
Pentagon spokesman Capt. Greg Hicks released a statement saying, "The Chairman's assessment of Russia's Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty violation is classified and not releasable to the public."
Hicks added that steps are being taken "across the government to address Russia's violation of the treaty, including preserving military response options - but no decision has been made with regard to the type of response, if any," according to the Beacon. The White House and the head of U.S. Strategic Command, Adm. Cecil Haney, offered similar assurances.
Haney said that while the U.S. certainly prefers a diplomatic solution, it's too early to rule out economic or military actions.
The Beacon asked Rogers what steps Congress should take if the Obama administration continues to ignore the violation.
"Well, the fact is we haven't been doing enough so far," he said. "It was only about a year and a half ago that the administration finally acknowledged that Russia has been violating the INF Treaty. But we know they've been violating it for several years."
He added that President Obama "is still pondering what the chairman of the Joint Chiefs told him we should do."
One way lawmakers are reportedly trying to address the violation is by appropriating funds in the 2016 defense authorization bill for various defense mechanisms, such as anti-cruise missile outposts in countries neighboring Russia. The current bill would authorize some $220 million for a missile defense base in Poland and would direct the Pentagon to research and develop a response to the violation. It also calls for the president to build "countervailing strike capabilities" and develop unspecified "counterforce" weapons that would "prevent intermediate-range ground-launched ballistic missile and cruise missile attacks," according to the Beacon.
A House Armed Services Committee spokesman told the Beacon that those provisions are currently being debated in the House-Senate conference on the final bill.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in June that the U.S. has failed to provide evidence to prove allegations of a treaty breach, reported The Associated Press.
Lavrov added that Russia is willing to carry out "honest but specific dialogue" and added that Moscow "has no intention to break the treaty."
