In the past year, the Russians have been pressing Washington to move toward de-alerting the US and Russian nuclear forces. De-alerting means any steps that will lengthen the time it takes to launch a nuclear missile. The effort has been led by General Vladimir Dvorkin, a top advisor to the Russian Defense Minister. Here are comments on de-alerting by General Dvorkin; U.S. policy experts Bruce Blair, Ashton Carter and Matthew Bunn; former CIA Director Stansfield Turner; and U.S. Generals (Ret.) William Odom and Eugene Habiger.

Selections from interviews with U.S. Generals (Ret.) William Odom and General Eugene Habiger; policy experts Ashton Carter and Matthew Bunn; and Senator Richard Lugar.

Soon after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, U.S. military officers reached out to Russian nuclear commanders to establish a cooperative relationship which included setting up exchange programs to view each other's nuclear sites. Here are comments on this effort from: U.S. Generals (Ret.) Eugene Habiger and William Odom; former CIA Director Stansfield Turner; Senator Richard Lugar; and policy expert Matthew Bunn.

Comments on where the U.S. and Russia stand on negotiating down their arsenals of nuclear weapons: Russian General Vladimir Dvorkin; former CIA Director Stansfield Turner; General (Ret.) Eugene Habiger; and policy experts Matthew Bunn and Ashton Carter.