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

sure U.S. allies <strong>and</strong> other security partners that they
can count on America’s security commitments. 55
America has enduring national security interests,
with nuclear weapons remaining a vital part of ensuring
that security. As the U.S. security focus shifts from
Europe to the Middle East <strong>and</strong> the Pacific Rim over
the coming decades, the country may find that today’s
NSNWs will continue to play a similar role in assuring
allies in those regions as they do <strong>and</strong> have done
for generations of Europeans. They may no longer be
called “non-strategic,” <strong>and</strong> they may find themselves
lumped together with other nuclear warheads, bombs,
<strong>and</strong> strategic delivery systems that have deterrence
<strong>and</strong> extended deterrence responsibilities. But even if
no longer a discrete category of weapons, the political
<strong>and</strong> military need for such weapons will continue to
exist for the foreseeable future.
The United States today maintains the smallest arsenal
of nuclear weapons since the 1950s, <strong>and</strong> the numbers
continue to get lower. There is less concern over
central nuclear war with a major global adversary. Yet
as the President said in Prague <strong>and</strong> the NPR reiterated,
”The threat of global nuclear war has become
remote, but the risk of nuclear attack has increased.” 56
Therefore we can expect the United States (as well as
the other nuclear powers of the world) to maintain at
least a small but robust inventory of nuclear weapons
for years to come. They will continue to serve as they
always have: as the ultimate guarantor of U.S. resolve,
power, <strong>and</strong> national security.
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