What Kind of NATO Nuclear Force?

Abstract

The development of nuclear weapons policy in the NATO alliance reflects continuing tension between the preferences of the United States to retain exclusive control of these weapons and the desire of European governments to participate in this control or to deploy their own nuclear forces. This process of interaction has carried NATO policy away from the American unilateral control system, through a stage of "nuclear sharing," and now into the creation of a "NATO nuclear force" by the assignment and co-ordination of national forces already in existence. Attention is now directed to the creation of a multilateral force, but this raises immensely more difficult questions. This continuing controversy over nuclear control is a reflection of the vast changes in the international environment since 1949, most notably the resurgence of the nations of Western Europe. United States nuclear policy has been necessarily modified, reflecting the growth of Europe's strength and the diffusion of nuclear weapons.