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

12. Author’s interview with a senior official of the Italian Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, Rome, Italy, September 10, 2010 (name
withheld by request). This argument closely mirrors the position
that was recently expressed by James Cartwright, Vice Chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States, according to whom
there are no missions calling for TNWs that cannot be carried out
with American conventional or strategic nuclear weapons. See
James Cartwright, “Meeting on <strong>Nuclear</strong> Postures Review,” Council
on Foreign Relations, Washington, DC, April 8, 2010, available
from www.cfr.org/publication/21861/nuclear_posture_review.html.
13. Indeed, the 2010 Strategic Concept admits, “The supreme
guarantee of the security of the Allies is provided by the strategic
[emphasis added] nuclear forces of the Alliance. . . .” The TNWs
are not mentioned in this context. See <strong>NATO</strong>, Strategic Concept
2010, para. 18.
14. The current debate on the total abolition of nuclear
weapons was prompted by an appeal by U.S. statesmen George
Schultz, William Perry, Henry Kissinger <strong>and</strong> Sam Nunn published
in “A World Free of <strong>Nuclear</strong> <strong>Weapons</strong>,” Wall Street Journal,
January 4, 2007. Interestingly, one of their recommendations
was to eliminate “short-range nuclear weapons designed to be
forward-deployed” as a concrete step toward a nuclear-weaponsfree
world. The appeal of the Four Horsemen—as Schultz <strong>and</strong> his
associates are often called—has been followed by similar press
initiatives worldwide, including the following <strong>NATO</strong> Europe
countries: Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherl<strong>and</strong>s, Norway,
<strong>and</strong> the United Kingdom (UK).
15. See Obama’s l<strong>and</strong>mark Prague speech, Office of the Press
Secretary, “Remarks by the President Barack Obama,” Hradcany
Square, Prague, Czech Republic, April 5, 2009, available from
www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-By-President-Barack-
Obama-In-Prague-As-Delivered/.
16. Indeed, France was the main force opposing any change
to <strong>NATO</strong> nuclear policy during the Lisbon summit that approved
the new Strategic Concept. See Oliver Meier, “<strong>NATO</strong> Revises <strong>Nuclear</strong>
Policy,” Arms Control Association, December 2010, available
from www.armscontrol.org/print/4590. France maintains a conservative
nuclear policy <strong>and</strong> continues to consider its nuclear arsenal
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