What did Mike Hayes say about negotiating the START nuclear treaty with Russia?

Mike Hayes said that when he interviewed to be the National Security Council's director for defense policy and strategy, he admitted he knew only how to spell START, and pitched himself as someone who runs a process rather than a subject expert. He says he was chairing deadlocked interagency meetings in the Situation Room within about two weeks, settled the open issues in seven to ten days, and then co-led a delegation to Moscow late in the Bush administration. Nobody expected Russia to sign before Bush left office, he said.

• Hayes says about 5,000 people apply for the White House Fellowship each year and roughly 14 are chosen.
• Sticking points included the legal structure of the text and whether to share missile test telemetry.
• Hayes stayed on into the Obama administration because fellows are not political appointees.

▸In their words

“This smells like the Cold War all over again.” Mike Hayes · at 2:58:54 — open in the transcript →

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on The Shawn Ryan Show (2026-10-22). Read the whole episode summary →

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