"Russia is no longer a strategic threat," says TIME Pentagon correspondent Mark Thompson. "The nuclear threat to the U.S. is more likely to come from rogue elements or terrorists bringing in a device on a cabin cruiser or a Piper Cub than from another country firing intercontinental ballistic missiles. And maintaining a nuclear deterrent doesn't protect us from that scenario." Besides, waiting for the Russians would force the Pentagon to spend hundreds of millions of dollars maintaining weapons systems that will be scrapped as soon as the agreement is endorsed.