Washington (CNN) -- Former Secretary of State Colin Powell on Wednesday joined a growing list of former GOP diplomatic and national security heavyweights endorsing the new Russian arms control treaty negotiated by the Obama administration.
Meeting with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office, Powell said he "fully" supports passage of the New START treaty as a way to reduce the threat of nuclear proliferation.
The accord is critical to maintaining the sort of "transparency" and "visibility" that helped promote trust and cooperation between the world's two nuclear superpowers in the past, he said.
The START treaty would resume mutual inspections of U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals, while limiting both nations to 1,550 warheads and 700 launchers each. CNN
