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

on resolving the long dilemma over CFE <strong>and</strong> seeking
other means to provide assurances about conventional
as well as nuclear forces. At a minimum, progress
in conventional arms discussions could improve the
prospects for finding a resolution to the NSNW issue.
THE “ORIGINAL” CFE TREATY AND ITS
ADAPTATION
In order to consider how conventional arms control
might contribute to finding a solution to the problem
posed by NSNWs, it is important to underst<strong>and</strong>
how the CFE Treaty came into being <strong>and</strong> many of
the underlying issues that have been addressed over
the past decade. The CFE Treaty was signed in Paris,
France, on November 19, 1990, between members of
<strong>NATO</strong> <strong>and</strong> the Warsaw Pact. It established limits on
the aggregate total of conventional military hardware
for the two blocs, required substantial reductions in
each nation’s conventional arsenal, <strong>and</strong> created an intrusive
regime of inspections <strong>and</strong> verification. At its
signing, many analysts hailed it as “the cornerstone
of European security,” <strong>and</strong> it is clearly the most ambitious
<strong>and</strong> far-ranging conventional arms control
treaty in history. It underscored a transformation of
European security that is still in process <strong>and</strong> whose
end state is unclear. 13
The events that framed this transformation have
been both largely peaceful <strong>and</strong> remarkable. Only a
year before its signing, the Berlin Wall, which had
served as perhaps the primary symbol of the Cold
War for nearly 40 years, was breached. Six weeks
prior to the Paris signing, Germany formally reunified
into a single nation. The 22 nations that signed
the CFE agreement have subsequently increased to 34.
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