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

CHAPTER 20
TACTICAL NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND <strong>NATO</strong>:
A CONVENTIONAL ARMS CONTROL
PERSPECTIVE
Dorn Crawford
Discussion about nuclear weapons in the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (<strong>NATO</strong>) necessarily occurs
on a European l<strong>and</strong>scape. This puts the conversation
in sharp contrast to the customary context of
nuclear arms control: a dialogue between two global
superpowers on how best to manage, <strong>and</strong> perhaps
limit, their inventories of strategic weaponry, <strong>and</strong>
thus reduce the risks of mutual destruction. Traditional
frames of reference, terminologies, matters of scale,
planning factors, <strong>and</strong> force structure issues do not
make an easy transition to the theater environment.
The conventional arms control experience, on the
other h<strong>and</strong>, arises primarily out of the European security
dialogue. In contrast to the above, this body of
work focuses on objectives <strong>and</strong> issues of a multilateral
<strong>and</strong> regional character, <strong>and</strong> thus deserves consultation
as a potential source of insights on how security
concerns have been addressed in this context.
<strong>Tactical</strong> (or theater, or non-strategic) nuclear weapons
(TNWs) have often been observed as constituting
an essential rung in the escalation ladder between
conventional <strong>and</strong> strategic nuclear forces. If that is
the case, it is fair to contemplate the relative merits of
treating their discussion either as a strategic nuclear
topic stepped down, or as a theater conventional topic
stepped up—with the truth, as usual, probably lying
somewhere in between. The present effort offers a
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