
President Barack Obama signs the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, February 2. Looking on are Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Senator John Kerry and Senator Richard Lugar


Six short years ago ….
During the August recess of 2005, Richard Lugar and freshman Senator Barack Obama visited Russia, Azerbaijan, and Ukraine to inspect nuclear facilities there. In January 2007, President Bush signed into law the Lugar-Obama Proliferation and Threat Reduction Initiative
Check the microphones, the media didn’t seem too interested in what the freshman senator had to say then

Baku, Ajerbaijan August, 2005. Photo: Pete Souza
More photos from that 2005 trip, all by Pete Souza:
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Inside a dismantled nuclear missile. Photo: Pete Souza