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

The fundamentals of Smart Defense are relatively
straightforward. In an era of defense austerity, Allies
should find more ways to cooperate multilaterally to
make available the type, quantity, quality, <strong>and</strong> capabilities
necessary for the Alliance as a whole to meet
the level of ambition as set by its political leaders—
that is, the set of contingencies ranging from major
combat operations to smaller stabilization missions
that <strong>NATO</strong> should be prepared for. Such multilateral
cooperation could include, for example, “pooling <strong>and</strong>
sharing” arrangements, joint procurement, <strong>and</strong> role
specialization. Top <strong>NATO</strong> civilian <strong>and</strong> military officials
are trying hard to implement the concept <strong>and</strong>
have assigned a leading role to Allied Comm<strong>and</strong>
Transformation to facilitate the process by which nations
will identify new cooperative projects, select
lead nations <strong>and</strong> partners, <strong>and</strong> (hopefully) implement
their collective efforts.
Not surprisingly, however, Smart Defense will
face the same challenges described hitherto as faced
by <strong>NATO</strong> <strong>and</strong> other multinational efforts. For example,
Allies that are more worried by proximate potential
threats, whether to their territories or information
systems, may be less inclined toward cooperative
projects that seem directed to expeditionary <strong>and</strong>/or
stabilization operations. Allies that share an expeditionary
strategic culture, such as the UK <strong>and</strong> France,
may favor bilateral cooperation over wider projects
involving Allies believed to be excessively risk averse.
Sovereignty issues remain an important consideration
in many areas, even if they are given different weights
depending on the size, capabilities, <strong>and</strong> political/
strategic culture of the individual Allies. In particular,
those who seek to preserve some capability to act alone
or in small coalitions of the willing outside <strong>NATO</strong> if
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