The introduction provides an overview of the strategic context in which President Barack Obama and his administration found themselves upon taking office in January 2009. In addition to the domestic economic situation resulting from the Great Recession, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Obama had foreign policy objectives he considered a priority, especially resetting relations with Russia after the tense relationship that resulted from actions taken during George W. Bush’s presidency. The negotiation of a follow-on nuclear arms treaty to the existing Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which was expiring in December 2009, was not only important in itself but a way to improve relations. However, other important nuclear weapons issues were pertinent: a legislatively mandated Nuclear Posture Review, an aging nuclear weapons arsenal and complex, and the deployment of a European ballistic missile defense system for NATO allies. The competing and intersecting demands required deft handling: internationally and domestically, militarily and politically. The two parties will ratify a treaty, known as New START, in 2011. Four factors, derived from previous treaty negotiating experiences with the Soviet Union and its successor state, the Russian Federation, serve as the framework to analyze this achievement.