Which treaty is primarily associated with limiting strategic offensive arms during the Cold War?

• A. SALT
• B. START II
• C. ABM Treaty
• D. INF Treaty

Answer: (A)

Limiting strategic offensive arms means setting agreed caps on the long-range nuclear weapons that can strike far from home. The SALT agreements were the first major Cold War treaties to place ceilings on these weapons, specifically limiting ICBMs and SLBMs and their MIRV configurations, to slow the arms race and reduce the risk of nuclear escalation. START II came later and continued reductions after the Cold War, while other treaties addressed different aspects: the ABM Treaty focused on defenses against missiles rather than offensive weapons, and the INF Treaty targeted a specific class of missiles rather than strategic arms overall. Because of its role in constraining the growth of the primary long-range nuclear arsenal during the Cold War, SALT is the treaty most associated with limiting strategic offensive arms.