The Republicans whom Americans trust to keep them safe has a nearly insane record on non proliferation. However flawed some of these treaties were, it is totally to our advantage to maintain them.
WE are the ones with the most to lose from a global nuclear arms race. These treaties were working exceptionally well, despite a case like Pakistan. Because Reagan allowed Pakistan to acquire nuclear capabilities in order for them to allow us to use the country as a staging post for Afghanistan operations after the Soviet invasion.
Here is Jesse Helms, the former CHAIRMAN OF THE SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE (emphasis out of sheer amazement that this far right winger could win that post) on why he led the successful effort to kill the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (for nuclear weapons):
The Senate had no choice but to reject the CTBT explicitly and unquestionably. Had we postponed the vote, under customary international law the U.S., as a signatory nation, would have been bound by the CTBT's terms. We had to vote to make clear that the U.S. will not be not legally bound by the terms of this treaty.
We had to vote for another reason as well: to make certain that the next administration will be left free to establish its own nuclear non-proliferation policies, unencumbered by the failed policies of its predecessor. The new president must have a free hand to re-establish American credibility on non-proliferation matters--credibility not based on scraps of paper, but on clear resolve, a credible nuclear deterrent and real defenses against ballistic missile attack.
So, we killed the CTBT because Star Wars could protect us?? The Republicans have not been a responsible party in decades. They are criminally reckless idealogues.