BASIC RESEARCH REPORT

A Risk Reduction Strategy for NATO

5. Document on Weapons of Mass Destruction

The US Administration has presented this as a document on intelligence sharing, but will the role of nuclear weapons be redefined, and if so, how?

Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction
The United States is pressing its NATO allies to increase cooperation on halting the proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). Originally, the US was pushing for NATO to take on counter-proliferation tasks as a key role of the Alliance, even in out of area engagements. However, following strong opposition to this idea from France and other NATO members, the US has lessened its demands.

Secretary of State Albright outlined US ideas to NATO Ministers in December 1998:

The Summit should address the threat posed to our populations, territory and to our military forces by weapons of mass destruction, or WMD. We have proposed a comprehensive WMD initiative that builds on the successful work we inaugurated at the 1994 summit. The initiative is designed to ensure that we can effectively address the threat posed by the proliferation of such weapons and their means of delivery. Our plan is to increase information and intelligence-sharing in the Alliance, accelerate the development of capabilities to deter and protect against potential WMD use, and underscore our shared commitment to prevent proliferation.⁵⁸

The US is now urging that NATO increase its intelligence sharing on WMD proliferation issues, something that already happens at a state to state level. The Gulf War made it clear that the threats from WMD were real. Intelligence sharing is a logical and necessary step that should have happened long ago.

However, intelligence sharing on proliferation may be simply a device that the US intends to use to drive an expanding program of counter-proliferation efforts for deterrence without an arms control component.

Recommendations
While increasing cooperation in the field of defense against WMD attacks, NATO should actively engage in a program of WMD risk reduction and elimination as outlined elsewhere in this paper.

A Risk Reduction Strategy for NATO continued

 
Introduction | Section 1 | Section 2 | Section 3 | Section 4 | Section 5
Section 6 | Section 7 | Section 8 | Endnotes | Appendices

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