Tactical Nuclear Weapons and NATO.pdf - Program on Strategic ...

that <strong>NATO</strong> as a whole is willing to delay or postpone
the elimination of these weapons for the sake of the
Alliance’s cohesion.
<strong>NATO</strong> remains Europe’s primary hard security
provider. Because the credibility of an organization
like <strong>NATO</strong> depends on solidarity among its members,
a widely shared priority on both sides of the Atlantic
is to avoid jeopardizing the principle of indivisibility
of the Alliance’s security. The prevailing trend of devaluing
TNWs, therefore, is offset by a cooperative
approach to allied security that considers the perceptions
of all partners, including those who feel the need
for continuing nuclear reassurance.
At the same time, <strong>NATO</strong> is called to be coherent
with its regard to commitment to reducing reliance
on nuclear arsenals <strong>and</strong> to nuclear disarmament. Engaging
in earnest <strong>and</strong> with greater coherence to fight
weapons of mass destruction (WMD) proliferation is
in the strategic interest of the Alliance. Eliminating the
remaining few scarcely useful TNWs deployed in Europe
would serve this purpose well <strong>and</strong> at very little
cost. Sooner or later, the fundamental rationale for the
forward deployment of TNWs in Europe must be addressed
in unambiguous terms.
The discussion, without taboos of any sort, must
be pragmatic, non-ideological, <strong>and</strong> guided by four
propositions. First, in the present <strong>and</strong> foreseeable
future security scenario, TNWs have no clear mission,
<strong>and</strong> alternative means of ensuring security exist;
second, <strong>NATO</strong> is currently a truly conventional
hyper-power with no rivals; third, <strong>NATO</strong> can remain
a nuclear alliance even without forward deployment
of U.S. TNWs, counting among its members three nuclear-weapon
states; <strong>and</strong> fourth, TNWs today retain
a residual (though replaceable), symbolic importance
for only a few <strong>NATO</strong> member states.
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