On Monday, the Trump administration announced the United States would be withdrawing from the Treaty on Open Skies, an agreement between 34 nations that allows unarmed military aircraft to fly over each other’s territory for observation purposes.

One of the key benefits to the treaty is that it allows the United States and its allies to fly over Russian airspace for the purpose of gathering intelligence — 42 overflights of Russian territory per year are permitted under the treaty, including 16 overflights by the United States specifically. These flyovers were important to monitoring Russia as they invaded and occupied the Crimean Peninsula.

But Trump has soured on the treaty in recent months, claiming that Russia is not in “complete compliance with [its] obligations.” In August 2018, the Trump administration moved to block funding for the treaty in the annual defense authorization bill, and two months later, Trump officials refused to certify a Russian airplane for Open Skies overflights, alone among the treaty’s signatories — but quickly changed course and approved the flight.

Russia, for its part, has accused the United States of being in violation of the treaty, with Federation Council Foreign Affairs Minister Vladimir Dzhabarov saying of the original defunding effort, “This is an attempt to hide everything the Americans will be preparing in the course of a new arms race.”

“NATO allies and partners, and Ukraine in particular, have repeatedly stressed the importance of the Open Skies Treaty for their efforts to monitor Russia’s military, wrote House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel (D-NY) in a letter to National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien. “Withdrawal risks dividing the transatlantic alliance and would further undermine America’s reliability as a stable and predictable partner when it comes to European security.”

Naval War College professor Tom Nichols, a Trump-skeptic conservative and military expert, had an even blunter reaction: “There is literally no reason to do this, other than to tell Rube Nation ‘I pulled out of treaties.'”

While the world was focused on President Donald Trump’s overnight blindsiding of the Pentagon and U.S. allies, announcing he is pulling troops out of Syria so Turkey can crush Kurdish forces that have helped the U.S. fight ISIS, the Trump administration was quietly laying plans to pull out of a key and critical compact, the Open Skies Treaty.

First proposed in 1992, since 2002 the Open Skies Treaty has allowed the now 34 signatory nations to fly over each others’ territory for the purpose of monitoring and recording military deployments and movements.

In the real world, the Open Skies Treaty allows the most powerful nations on earth to monitor Russian military movements.

And President Trump wants to end that.

U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel on Monday sent Trump’s Acting National Security Advisor, Robert O’Brien, a letter demanding he “ensure that the United States does not unwisely and rashly withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty.”

Chairman Engel also called the possible withdrawal “reckless,” and noted “American withdrawal would only benefit Russia.”

Chairman Engel’s letter was followed by this tweet:
“ Observation flights under the Treaty have generated additional info regarding Russian military action in Ukraine & provided a check on further Russian aggression. @NATO allies have stressed the importance of the Open Skies Treaty for their efforts to monitor Russia’s military.”

Experts are perplexed and outraged.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia.
McFaul
“ We are now pulling out of the Open Skies Treaty? Really? Please tell me this can't be true. ‘

Investigative journalist and expert on Russia, Ukraine, and Eastern Europe says “Trump is acting like a kamikaze pilot destroying America in any way he can and in a hurry”:

Dr. Michael Carpenter’s résumé says all you need to know:

“Dr. Carpenter previously served in the Pentagon as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense with responsibility for Russia, Ukraine, Eurasia, the Balkans, and Conventional Arms Control. He also served in the White House as a foreign policy advisor to Vice President Joe Biden as well as on the National Security Council as Director for Russia. Previously, Dr. Carpenter was a career Foreign Service Officer with the State Department.”

“ I've been very critical of Russia's cheating on the Open Skies Treaty and I do believe we need a serious discussion of its pros and cons. But a precipitous unilateral withdrawal is the wrong way to address those concerns and will damage the unity of the NATO alliance.

The Trump administration has not publicly stated that it intends to back out of the accord. However, some Russia hawks aligned with the administration have said that the White House should withdraw. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., called the treaty outdated and said it “favors Russia” in a brief statement last year.

The treaty, which took effect in 2002, allows the 34 countries that have signed it to conduct short-notice, unarmed reconnaissance flights over the others’ territories to monitor military forces and activities. Member countries must allow a certain number of overflights of their territory each year.

The aim is to enhance military transparency between nations, but tension exists between the U.S. and Russia over how the agreement is being implemented. Washington has complained that Moscow has restricted flights over Russia’s military hub in Kaliningrad, a small exclave squeezed between NATO members Poland and Lithuania. The U.S. has responded by putting restrictions on some Russian flights over U.S. territory.

Engel said he supports maintaining certain restrictions on Russian flights in response to Moscow denying access to Kaliningrad and to the breakaway Georgian territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. “But it is clear that these implementation concerns do not rise to the level of material breach of the Treaty, an excuse that is being peddled as the potential reason for withdrawal,” Engel wrote.