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

Comm<strong>and</strong> in 2010. He continued: “This is the vision
of many people, <strong>and</strong> I remind you that the dividing
line between vision <strong>and</strong> hallucination is never very
clear.” 24
THE DDPR PROCESS
<strong>NATO</strong>’s core business, its raison d’etre, is to protect
our territory <strong>and</strong> our populations. . . . And in a world
where nuclear weapons actually exist, <strong>NATO</strong> needs a
credible, effective, <strong>and</strong> safely managed deterrent. 25
—Secretary General General Rasmussen,
April 22, 2010
Undoubtedly these issues will have a significant
impact on the DDPR process as it moves forward towards
the May 20, 2012, Summit in Chicago, IL. Nevertheless,
as confirmed by the new Strategic Concept,
<strong>NATO</strong> remains a collective security alliance whose
purpose, as embodied in Article V of the North Atlantic
Treaty, is to defend the territorial integrity of
all of its member states. To do so, <strong>NATO</strong> theoretically
maintains military capabilities (1) to deter any attack,
<strong>and</strong>, in the event deterrence fails, either (2) to defeat
such an attack if it occurs, or (3) to convince the aggressor
that it has miscalculated <strong>and</strong> that the costs of
war far exceed any possible gains, thereby causing the
aggressor to abort his attack.
In many respects the DDPR process reflects a continuation
of a constantly transforming <strong>NATO</strong> which
began, in my view, with the end of the Cold War <strong>and</strong>
continues today. Consistent themes are evident from
past Strategic Concepts, namely “security, consultation,
deterrence <strong>and</strong> defence, crisis management, <strong>and</strong> partnership.”
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