Congress passed the Nunn-Lugar amendment, authorizing U.S. threat reduction assistance to the former Soviet Union, in November 1991, after a failed coup in Moscow and the disintegration of the Soviet Union raised concerns about the safety and security of Soviet nuclear weapons. The annual program has grown from $400 million in the DOD budget to over $1 billion per year across three agencies--DOD, DOE, and the State Department.

The United States and Soviet Union signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in 1991; it
entered into force in December 1994 and is due to expire in December 2009. The United States
and Russia have held several meetings to discuss options for continuing their arms control
relationship, but have not agreed on whether to extend START or how to replace it.